Woleai

Woleai Atoll is close enough to kiss the softest mouths of Ulithi, Fais, Sorol, Eauripik, Faraulep, Ifaluk, Elato, Lamotrek and Satawal

these are the Outer Islands of the western Carolines—outer from Yap
i was in Yap lagoon & my love said, ‘go onto the canoe so that we two shall die together!’
tera ngali shimwel gius kelaal galebaas kaal!

so, i paddled into the calm.
i sa fatiul long lan liuwa we.
there was beeliweiy
divination on our inter-island
canoe voyage (we were going to Ulithi)
i saw magic on our outrigger
we died together at neon sunset
fishhooks in hand and shell belts
on our waists

on the maliuweliuw (quiet) beach,
we walked, two peach-gold yalus, ghosts
we wore immature coconut fronds,
we placed white young coconut leaves
as a taboo sign along the main path.
ye mwaremwar ubut, my love wore
a lei of white young coconut leaves.

‘the sky became red.’
ye sa checha lag lan lang.
i saw mworafius, the stars that
forecast the weather:
tonight, there will be purple yaroiut (rain)

i built a coconut husk fire
i held selimetip mai ‘three torn pieces of breadfruit’
& faamat ig ‘four kinds of fish’
in my brown hands
i cooked them with deep purple taro
my love (the fishing magician) said,
‘throw these calabashes onto the head of the grilled octopus!
we will cook the green
bottle gourd, the white-flowered gourd, the long
melon, the birdhouse gourd, the New Guinea
butter bean, the Tasmania bean, the opo squash.’
we made kootiya, a small wrapping of
preserved breadfruit and we cooked it
in an underground oven
we had a feast

peach yalu, you are faliuwei, my island
you are Metaw Mwal,
the emerald ocean from Yap to Palau;
your heart is the mysterious
interior part of the island,
where thick green nibolosapetag (jungle) is;
you hide your clan’s beauty in copra, the dried
white flesh of the coconut palm fruit;
you mix betel leaves with tobacco,
chew the betel nut, then spit.
betel nut makes
your mouth shocking red, kissable
you’re pelagic like snails of warm seas
that have thin spiral purple shells;
reemangiush, small yellow turtle eggs &
reemasow, white mature turtle eggs
hide on the nesting beach in your
chocolate eyes

i said, you are my beautiful Genaiuliwish.
and then you, Genaiuliwish, laughed.
iwe shag nge ye ffas iiy Genaiuliwish

in the afterlife,
i am ligaatangiteng one who cries often
you went away
you wander with the living
i want to ngiulew (kiss) your peach yalu face.
this new woman, she is a beautiful alive girl–
iiy semal shoabut kemwatiyetiy
my ghost, do you love her instead?
we are spirits tied together like stalks of bananas,
clusters of young coconuts, and bushy flowers
we should never separate