Hawai‘i Literature & Art
— Since 1978 —
This is the same spot Uncle used to bring me as a kid, over by the black rocks on the edge of the reef. The first time he brought me here, we caught so many we sent the smaller ones back. Auntie couldn’t believe her eyes. She said we were God’s disciples. Since then, the…
We were waist deep in a lo’i, stamping it down and planting taro cuttings. A man wearing a straw hat and malu supervised. One of the elders had his baby fastened to his back with a green sash. His baby’s toes were dipped in chocolate-colored mud. After lunch, we rolled boulders across the makeshift bridge…
The energy of the stream was flowing directly into the base of a displaced coconut tree. Over time, it tipped diagonally, nearly washing away with the current. All it would take was one more downpour. We attempted to reduce the pressure around the bank where half the roots were exposed. We found a large boulder…
Between us was a bottle of cheap vodka but not much else. We sat on the edge of Waikiki on an abandoned straw mat. We were in middle of a transient night in the intersection of our lives. Nothing else to do but drink and guess the amplitude of waves.
The homeless man walks barefoot around Kaka’ako with a guitar on his back. He heads down Halekauwila in the art district, past murals by graffiti artists. He spots a narwal sitting by a campfire and stops to warm his hands. He sees a row of samurai, swords drawn, and he bows to avoid their blades….
Did I tell you bout da time ma fadda neva pick me up? I had fo walk home afta library wen close an he blames me! ‘What the heck you gotta go library fo?’ Ma madda had nerve rash from stress! She couldn’t get her hands wet. I did all da babies’ diapas, toilet dips,…
Everybody like fo walk around Chinatown on New Year’s Day, no mo nothing fo do, no mo money. Dey like go stand outside da window, watch da cook chop char siu, whole roast duck, make everybody like eat. We walk past da market an see rambutan, lychee, ripe yellow mangoes, wish we could taste. We…