Sideways

by Heather Haley

Heather Haley’s poetry is tough, irreverent, and in-your-face. She asks all the questions that a nice girl’s not supposed to ask. Down back roads and highways, her characters long to possess the past and harness the future. Cowboys, car accidents, broken hearts, dead lovers—and potential violence—hover like heat on the horizon. Whether they’re gangsta girls or riot grrrls, roaming the range or pacing the mall, Haley’s women are always in the forefront, in the driver’s seat, crankin’ the wheel in their direction. Like wild horses bustin’ loose, or an explosion in the kitchen, Haley’s women know &quote;how heady power is, how it lathers beneath a mount.&quote; Her characters bite life on the neck and take what they need; and just when they think it’s gone, meaning happens. This is brawny and uncompromising language from a voice that demands to be reckoned with.

84 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Heather Haley is a Vancouver writer, singer, and videopoetry pioneer. A member of the punk band, the 45s, and the originator of the all-female group, the Zellots, Haley’s edgy style stems, in part, from her days in the Los Angeles underground music scene. Known for pushing boundaries by creatively integrating disciplines, genres and media, Haley published “The Edgewise Café,” one of Canada’s first electronic literary magazines, and ran Visible Verse, a videopoem festival, producing her own renowned videos “Purple Lipstick” and “Dying for the Pleasure.”

Called one of Canada’s “national treasures,” she is the author of the poetry collections: Sideways, Three Blocks West of Wonderland, Skookum Raven and a novel, The Town Slut's Daughter. As AURAL Heather, she also released spoken word CDs,  “Princess Nut” and “Surfing Season.” Her work has toured Canada, the US and Europe and appeared in a wide range of periodicals and anthologies, including A Verse Map of Vancouver. Haley currently performs in the indie folk duo The Pluviophiles with Keir Nicoll. Committed to honesty, feeling, craft and a sense of the absurd, she continues to ask all the tough questions “a nice girl’s not supposed to ask.”