Wind and rain strike the roof  And river the streets. Flowers drown in a muddy Mix of eggshells and ill leaves. I wonder if they’ll survive.   At night the power goes out.  We bust out the candles. Living sparks the non-living lumpy wax Man. He melts the uncertainty  Of the dark with every flicker….

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…

Deep Water Old rhythms persist— I wash, and she dries dishes After meals turned silent By stillborn thoughts.   I am a visitor in mother’s kitchen Where clutter and restraint sit side by side, Pots stored on stove burners, Pans stacked neatly in the oven While cups and bowls scatter Across green linoleum counters.  …

tent walls wildly flap trying to take flight follow the trades salty ocean smell lingers in the air rusted broken beach chair monument to better times two hundred feet to the showers and fresh clean water gas stove on low simmering chicken long rice soup more rice less chicken to last for three meals tent…

After-school basketball was humiliating: choose up sides with whomever wanted to play. Could have eight or nine players to each side. Pushing, bumping and hacking. No ref. I was usually last, way after the good guys, the medium guys, and the girls. The junk guys had to play defense. Shirts versus skins, except for the…

You Asked I never wore Obsession, that spicy fragrance sold at Macy’s.  But it’s what happens when     something interests me, like ostrich ranching for its feather plumes, humungous eggs, and     leather.  Then, there’s Kdramas that drug me with the push-pull romance, mystery, horror,and comedy in every season.  Or, that nudibranch I found in the froth…

pink painted Ko’olau Mountains ohu clinging tightly to their flanks dark blue ocean waters releasing rising sun reluctantly birth of a glorious new day spreading silently across Oahu a day for swimming and surfing for delightful play and childish laughter for dipping toes into the ocean letting sand run through your fingers until the sun…

I came this close.  That “in the very next breath” thing.  It took all he had to gesture, get me on my knees because he had something to spill.  You know, how you’re a second away from finally knowing what’s what.  I dropped down beside him and got my ear real close to his lips. …

Lotta stuff going on.  Finally, here’s the second writing contest prompt message for December.  Remember, this month’s entries must be EXACLTY 90 words. From “Sun,” by Darrell H.Y. Lum Sun. A transistor plays fuzzy, too-loud rock’n roll. Sweat trickles down my chest, over my belly, and fills my navel. Sun. Crab crawls slow.  Seaweed stinks….

Letting Go   Letting go is hard for me, I hang on to men way past the expiration date In hopes things will change, and we can work it out. I have learned to let go of men like that But hang on to books, They are the milestones of my life— I keep books…