Hawai‘i Literature & Art
— Since 1978 —
I wanted to say I’m doing ok and everything’s good but there’s no sense in that, so I’ll just tell you ’bout Lizzie’s birthday party the other day. She wore the pink dress that you got her the one with the giraffe with the goggly eyes, Sarah tied yellow balloons to the picnic table out…
Wearing a white kikepa to the stand The prosecution found it necessary Objections from the defense The judge nodded for her to do so The prosecution found it necessary Asked how many children she had The judge nodded for her to do so No one in the courtroom moved Asked how many children she had…
a lot of shit about that night, but me, I ain't talking. It is what it is, a Brodie, that's how it goes sometimes. We all had too much to drink, sure, but I'm not saying I couldn't handle my hooch- I can handle my hooch.It just colors things though you know? Just like that…
You are not here. Not your smooth skin taut over bones, over warm blood coursing through your heart. Heart of a brown mother, heart of a brown father heart that never confessed " I didn't do anything wrong Daddy, I swear" Not your eyes wide that took in boxing matches and light of a girl's…
When Jean ended on the line if the walls could talk, I immediately went to either Thalia or Grace (Thalia's mother). The connotation of walls talking would be of scandal and it made me think of Thalia living it up and missing her party life back home on the east coast. There were three things…
Dearest Margaret, I so envy you- Downtown must be ablaze with Christmas decorations and everyone would have their invitation to Amanda's party by now- I shall miss it all! The laughter, the clinking of glasses, the Colonel's nephew and his glorious lips- I shall miss your entrance, luminous in the latest from Paris; I would…
Setting: 1 Above him a large black and white photo of a battleship-not his- churns forward through white foam. The photo is stationed in a curved silver embellished frame. One of the few curved things there; most- the desk, leather chair,pressed uniform and clock have an elegant yet Spartan quality- straight, angular, hollow but sharp….
I said nothing the night they came, the first night gone put away the stew warming on the stove, closed the lights, closed my eyes to his lean arms- his father's arms folded over into cuffs, folded down into the police car, eyes straight ahead a man, my son, a man. The fourth night, the…
I don’t want to read this story. Don’t want to know their names, imagine their faces. I catch my breath as the words surface; Tin Can Alley, barefeet football, brown skinned boys wearing white silk shirts. See them behind the wheel- immortal for the night; hear the ease in their laughter stronger than daylight and…
Giving creative writing tools to teachers that they can use to encourage original writing, expounding on what "good" poetry is, how to recognize it and more importantly, write it