Pikake in the Valley

  The Blue in the Stratosphere  There is a light gleaming From across the vast and empty sea It is blue, like headlights from a distant far off place of stars Death It wears on a human like a robe of shining stars Like the pirouette of a dancer Like violets toward a distant moon…

IF YOU ASKED ME WHAT A CHAMORU DREAMS ABOUT, I WOULD ASK YOU WHAT KIND.

An off-island CHamoru dreams of plastic jugs filled to the brim with pickled mangoes and papaya. Freshly made titiyas, both flour and månha. On summer nights, niyok cut with a machete husked, cracked, and free. We dream of ocean waves flowing onto sand, morning glory vines caressing grains, a water so clear and warm, you…

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…

Silent Sea

Sunlit afternoon upon a black sea of caps, gowns and tassels. A man speaks but his words echo soundlessly across the water, reverberating against their own emptiness. The placid body stirs, not with fury nor familiar festivity, but from a variable wind, fickle, fluctuating, foreign. Ripples rupture the stilness and send simultaneous yet separate pulses….

Math Rhymes with Laugh

The little girl’s eyes were riveted on the four objects her father placed on the table in front of him. “Potatoes?” she asked. “That’s right, Love Muffin,” said Mr. Lau, placing the four little spuds before him. “For arithmetic, Daddy?” “Ummmhmmm, Kitty Cat, for math. These are what we’re going to use to teach you…

July 2024 Year of the Dragon Bamboo Shoots Writing Challenge Prompts

Okay, Lanning, and anybody else who’s still alive out there. Let’s write the usual 100 to 1000.  Any kind of poem, story, essay, play, or hybrid style is good. In any language. No translation needed, although providing one might help reach a wider readership. Here are some promos for you to consider, or ignore. Your…

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