Hawai‘i Literature & Art
— Since 1978 —
Loke Swims Like Ka poʻe Moananuiākea Oceania’s people. Where do they come from? We’re all supposed to be one beeeg ʻohana. That’s what archaeologists say. Transported On the first wave Transported on the first broad current like seeds in the wind, scattering scattering. On the sinking islands of Moananuiākea. Loke ponders. Who were they? Who…
This is da room dat nevah change. So many years gone by, but we keep em da way it was. Wen Tutu lived in it. I nevah met her. But I know her, I tink I know her. Sometimes, I even tink she stay inside da closet, moving around in her muʻumuʻus. I smell da…
This poem was written in celebration of Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian Language Month, in the Niʻihau dialect. Translation provided below. ʻĀpuatea Ua hele mai ta ua ta ua nui ta ua nui i tapa ʻia iā ʻĀpuatea he inoa wahine ʻo ia he inoa ua ʻo ia no laila ua hele au i ta malu…
I nevah met a language I nevah like. So I wen weave English, Pidgin, and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi into this piece. So much going on dis month. Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language Month), Makahiki Hou Pākē (Chinese New Year), and our usual recognition of ʻŌlelo Paʻi ʻAi (Pidgin) as vehicles of spoken and written expression. Sounds…
My tutu She’s building, fountains Shooting higher than the tallest ʻōhiʻa tree in the forest. Her fountains spit rocks and glass Her hemo-skin anger is unbridled. Her wiry tresses snap into myriad fragments of needles and glass floating floating carelessly on a current of hemo-skin heat and wind downwards, downwards, towards rainy Hilo. Her hair…
We hope. We can only hope. That one day we’ll be gazing in awe at the same sunrise. That we’ll hear the same “first bird” heralding the big dawn. That we’ll hear the first rain drops of an early morning shower on the tin roof. And the dawn and the first bird and the rain…
A beach front hotel in Waikiki, hours after a postcard sunset. The resort is finally returning to “normal”. A malihini man comes rushing into the lobby, shouting. “There’s an old beach bum in my room, don’t know he got in, I recorded everything he said on my phone”. He plays the recording for the security…
Moe ka wahine I ka pōuliuli Moe i ka mālie ka wahine inu ʻawa Uē ihola ke kāne ʻili kou Na ke kumu ʻulu kona hoa moe Na ka manu ʻai maiʻa ka hewa Nānā iho nā akua i ka noʻonoʻo Lele aʻe ka pueo Kāhea ka ʻalalā ʻĀ mai nei ka imu. (Translation)…
She rolls over. Snoring, puffing air, then quiet. Gusts of wind blow through her wiry hair Sun shines on the leathery cracks. On her face, her elbows, her knees, the soles of her lu’au feet. Tutu? You sleeping? No answer. Tutu? Puffing, grunting. Too lazy to open her eyes. She replies. Yeah, jes one short…
Aloha friends, fellow poets and readers. Let’s celebrate February as ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language) Month. He Au Hou, “a new era” is a 21st century oli (chant). It’s written to be chanted “leo nui -style”, loudly and proudly, from the rooftops, from a canoe, even a mountaintop. Translation provided below its original text for Da…