{"id":3121,"date":"2020-05-14T14:20:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T13:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/?p=3121"},"modified":"2020-05-14T13:25:36","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T12:25:36","slug":"highly-commended-charles-lang-the-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/?p=3121","title":{"rendered":"Highly Commended: Charles Lang, <h6>&#8216;The Chase&#8217;<\/h6>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Charles Lang&#8217;s poem &#8216;The Chase&#8217; has\u00a0been Highly Commended in the 2020 <a title=\"Content related to Newcastle Poetry Competition\" href=\"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/?tag=newcastle-poetry-competition\">Newcastle Poetry Competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/416008678\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Chase<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>for Ciaran Carson<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Aw it takes is a wee <em>fuck the polis<\/em> n a night ae excitement is on:<\/p>\n<p>the chase, navigatin the side-streets n gable-ends, hidin in bushes,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>under motors, behind wheelie bins. We get up close so they cin see us<\/p>\n<p>then we\u2019re away again wae another <em>fuck the polis<\/em> between pantin breaths.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve sent fur back-up, a second van tae negotiate as its gettin dark,<\/p>\n<p>but we know the scheme better than they dae, or ever will,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>n we map it wae ease \u2013 the school, the wee shop, the tree swing,<\/p>\n<p>the bought hooses, ma granny\u2019s hoose, ma pal\u2019s aunty\u2019s hoose, the lane.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve took a break in a close. They approach it n we\u2019re oot<\/p>\n<p>the back door n er the fences like hurdles, athletes fur the buzz.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before ye know it the chopper\u2019s oot (coppers in a helicopter) n the searchlight<\/p>\n<p>shines like a Hollywood premiere \u2013 we\u2019re the stars ae <em>Catch Me If You Can<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>but they canny, n we\u2019ve just slipped intae ma pal\u2019s hoose fur a drink,<\/p>\n<p>changed oor tracky taps n skip hats cover oor heids. Incognito.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Watch this. We\u2019re walkin right doon the street right past the polis<\/p>\n<p>casual as, no givin a fuck, n ma pal turns roon n says <em>awright officers<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>wit yees been up tae the night?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Charles Lang is from Castlemilk in Glasgow. He lives in Belfast, where he is currently studying at the Seamus Heaney Centre.\u00a0Poems have appeared in\u00a0<em>Fly on the Wall Magazine<\/em>,\u00a0<em>From Arthur\u2019s Seat<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Gutter<\/em>,\u00a0<em>The Honest Ulsterman<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Luminous, Defiant\u00a0<\/em>(Listen Softly Press),\u00a0<em>The Open Ear<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>The Speculative Book 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charles Lang&#8217;s poem &#8216;The Chase&#8217; has\u00a0been Highly Commended in the 2020 Newcastle Poetry Competition. &nbsp; The Chase for Ciaran Carson &nbsp; Aw it takes is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,5],"tags":[669,664,604,9],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3122,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions\/3122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}