Hawai‘i Literature & Art
— Since 1978 —
This poem was written in celebration of Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian Language Month, in the Niʻihau dialect. Translation provided below. ʻĀpuatea Ua hele mai ta ua ta ua nui ta ua nui i tapa ʻia iā ʻĀpuatea he inoa wahine ʻo ia he inoa ua ʻo ia no laila ua hele au i ta malu…
Richard Nakandakari is the hero in all of his stories. He’s the storyteller, the events are his, he lived them and has a right to tell them the way they seemed to him, from the inside. Who’ll know if he rewrites the dialogue to make himself sound smarter, more insightful, and even as a youth, wise? Being humorous…
Every day I read the obits I take notice of the ages Today, a lot are older than me This makes me think I still get chance To out dance the piper Buddha teaches life is impermanent So no get use to it. In the meantime, the days fly by Adding another month, another…
I nevah met a language I nevah like. So I wen weave English, Pidgin, and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi into this piece. So much going on dis month. Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language Month), Makahiki Hou Pākē (Chinese New Year), and our usual recognition of ʻŌlelo Paʻi ʻAi (Pidgin) as vehicles of spoken and written expression. Sounds…
Leaves in Hawaii are trapped in green– orange, red, brown or bare– belong to lands where the sun rises to a different sky. Mom and Dad are like those leaves, unblemished by the passing seasons– on the surface, a harmony of all things, below, the smeared shadows of fairy tales. The day comes when truth…
wen I stay about tirteen I wen go surf wid my fren evry time we go Waikiki we like go Pops da spot off da Halekulani one time one local guy wen see me one blonde haole girl an he figah I stay come from California since he made this assumption I decided to speak…
“Sir? Excuse me?” Ronald Ito turns around, sees it’s an older security guard. Close cropped silver hair, the kind of crewcut you inherit from your days in the military. But his military life is one he left long ago, it appears. He’s soft, beer paunchy. Ito is much younger, a former member of his high-school…
We know about sparkling eyes, dancing eyes, laughing eyes, and eyes the windows, mirrors, portals to the soul, But what about tiny soul creatures (living secretly) within each dark (and private) eye? My great-aunt Helen had a voice like that, (a voice-within-a-voice), a Sarah Vaughn voice, a Vaughn Monroe voice. Eyes like that, multidimensional eyes,…
Aloha and welcome to the February Year of the Tiger Bamboo Shoots Writing Contest. If you were looking for the February writing prompts, you have come to the right place. This month is special. In conjunction with Mahina ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian Language Month, we are encouraging anyone interested in submitting contest pieces written in Hawaiian…