Hapa Anatomy

25-word entry (written first):

She drew a line across her wrist. Cleaved her face in two. Delineated the left breast. Continued. Chinese here, she thought. Hawaiian here. Half everywhere.

100-word entry:

What are you? they asked.

She was night-blooming cereus against dark lava rock. ‘I’iwi feathers and the song of myna birds. She was water and salt. Dim sum. Saimin with a cheeseburger and sweet Maui onion. She was even the five hour flight from her home in California to her family on O’ahu.

But what are you? they asked.

She drew a line across her wrist. Cleaved her face in two. Delineated the left breast. Circled the hips. Continued until her body was outlined in bright red ink. Chinese here, she said. Native Hawaiian here. Haole there. Half everywhere.

Talk story

  1. jennifer.k.losalio says:

    Beautiful writing. As a fellow “mixed” kanaka, this resonates. It’s unfortunate that blood quantum has been imposed on our psyches by colonialism. We are whole, no matter how many cultures we are made of.

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