Hawai‘i Literature & Art
— Since 1978 —
It’s kind of amazing how fast I start feeling normal by starting my day in a neighborhood among normal people who prepare to go normal places and do normal things. And how good and normal “normal” can feel. Do Kerouac and Kesey feel normal? Would they feel normal tooling around Boston behind the wheel of…
Milton stumbles shakily around Mānoa Valley amid traffic. Petrarch perambulates Punchbowl Cemetery perusing stark headstones of veterans. Shakespeare window-shops for Hawaiian souvenirs at Ala Moana Center. Whitman whistles while he waits for a bus at the corner of Ward and Kapi‘olani. Dickinson rents a Biki bike at University and rides down Beretania to Alakea Street….
ON HE RODE — Chapter Forty-Eight In the meantime I’ll take advantage of what must be the most comfortable seating accommodation anywhere, the first five miles of riding any Greyhound or Trailways cross-country hauler. It never fails, ever. The first thing I sit down I can’t believe how anatomically perfect this wonderful combination of lounge…
I’m sleeping, I think; this has the vivid feeling of a dream. Before my house was rebuilt, a huge mango tree stood in the front yard. Somehow sitting on those long gone steps leading up to the former lānai and front door, I hear a voice call out my name, a small, high one, barely…
It turns out we don’t use names much anyway to confirm that we’re all part of The Movement to End All War Forever and other absurd notions having to do with social and economic equity that could quickly and easily be achieved if the pigs would just legalize pot so everyone could share the bliss…
By the time I pull into the SHELL station there’s no doubt that the noises coming from under the hood are concerning and need immediate attention. Luckily, it’s a slow day and the young guy running the place gives me the go-ahead to drive up on a portable ramp so I can drop Miss Chevy’s…
We sat opposite each other, each stirring coffee in thick white cups, trying to cool it off. “Cream,” I said. “Cream would help.” Andrea shook her head. “I think the fat stores the heat, makes it take longer to cool off.” I’d never actually thought about this. It made sense. She was good at making…
Take it slow and easy, if you wanna get along with me. A get-along is an easy glide that doesn’t put pressure inequitably on any part by not applying much pressure, period. I’m driving slow, gliding along, looking for a place to park, a place with a roof over it, if posse le. Ah well,…
It is here now for a minute, that finger-drawn face on the steamed glass is yours, ars brevis, fading as the warmth evaporates the room. What aging takes away, aging leaves behind, memory’s bits of steps taken and somethings said, a long and longing trail of warm crumbs turning to cold white brittle pieces, rimed…
What puts the kick in the chicken, the magic in June? Does anybody sing “Elmer’s Tune” these days? Why would they? What makes me think about it now? Oh my ma is out, and my pa is out, even Grandpa’s cigar is out, everyone’s out, so let’s stay in tonight. So what happens to all…