The missing money may have gone to a local farmacia to buy medicine for an ailing loved-one, to a salami and provolone cheese sandwich to quiet a cranky stomach, to latte fresco intero to calm that of a baby’s, or for proper back-to-school clothing for the children. More likely the euros plucked in Venice bought…

Go big brother’s closet, hem up his old pants, try his old shoes… and see if da stripe shirt still fit. Pau. “Good enough,” Mother tell. Sometimes I get one new pack of BVDs but only if no mo nuff no mo stain. I tell I like Bustah Browns j’like on TV. Mother tell, “You…

I looked over at the truck next to me as we rolled side by side along Highway 11. Your Hawaiian good looks stunned me with your brown skin, black hair and hot tattoo. You were eating a burger as you drove in the humid heat. I wanted to be next to you, sharing lunch and…

The eldest child of Polish immigrants, she spoke only Polish until first grade, where everybody else spoke English. The experience made her relationship with the language she would use all her life a permanently uneasy one. At Penney’s for my back-to-school attire, she had to check the crouch of my new bluejeans because it embarrassed…

Most don’t want to hear Not at all Some kind of religious music Playing everyday She’s slouched there Her old cassette Smoking cigarettes Taking their donations Nicotine stained fingers Sagged on her chair That Jesus music so-so loud Most listening not much Who come to her Having found God Slowly crawl to her trailer Pass…

August is upon us, and it’s getting hot, hot, hot. As good a time to write as any. This month you can write a haiku or a piece that is exactly 100 words or a piece that is exactly 2000 words Here are the triggers for August: Back to school School supplies School Supplies New…

My fahdah was born in China. Ah Goong came to Hawaii first, den he sent fo his wife, Ah Po, and numbah one son, my fahdah. I donno when my fahdah became one citizen. He was one appliance salesman. You like buy one icebox or one stove, he get um. If you ask him what…

The early morning air washes cool against my cheeks as I step out for a run. All was quiet in my Sacramento neighborhood except for the steady drone of commuters coursing through the bordering I-5 freeway. My sister’s Hawaiian Airlines flight was en route home to Honolulu. It is July 5th, the morning following an…

I did not want to fall in love with you At most pursued a quick short-lived affair Wronged have I been before and sure anew I’d rather sidestep agonizing care But somehow destined I for you did fall It’s time unfeelingly to toy with me Treat me compassionlessly after all Because it’s happened so consistently…

When we ended, I could: Leave work early, once a week. Drive to Dillingham Shopping Center. Park in front of Savers, where Micronesian women shopped and Filipino sales clerks chatted away in Tagalog. Take the elevator to the second floor. Walk the narrow hallway. Meet with Joy, at Parents and Children Together. To recall the…