Hawai‘i Literature & Art
— Since 1978 —
This is a story about Thanksgiving from the perspective of all the different kinds of food and kitchen items that are involved in preparing a Thanksgiving dinner. The story begins with the opening of the refrigerator. A bottle of vinegar exclaims, “Everyone, hold your stomach in. She has returned from grocery shopping. We need to…
Okay, friends, let’s go 100 to 1000 words, and remember, these are prompts you can ignore if you want to write about something else. We welcome pieces in any language, and no English translation is required — although including a translation might allow you to reach a wider audience. So here are the prompts (to…
Buzzy’s Lounge, a time warp of a cocktail lounge a few minutes away from the old Hilo Airport. Jon, the head bartender, is putting away the bulbous Hurricane, Tropical Itch and Blue Hawaii glasses. We never use these tourist things, no make sense why da boss like put ‘em out everyday. He could almost hear…
So uji him He no moa shame Everytime show up at family gatherings Ack like everyting all good But if you look everybody’s face Side eye kine So dey no catch you So your questioning eyes No make dem feel shame You goin see Dey know Everybody know From da smallest baby To da oldest…
When people still had landline telephones Sometimes I wanted to throw mine out the window The last time we talked, he told me he’d beaten it The phone rang, it was his wife He hadn’t I’d been trimming my mango tree I went back to work and cut at it savagely Then stopping, I realized…
Okay, Halloween is coming so we need some spooky prompts. Remember, you can ignore these prompts and write about whatever. We welcome pieces written in any language. There is no need for an English translation, but if you do provide one, you may reach a wider readership. Here are the prompts: Ghosts (what else, right?)…
Amazing how quiet the multitude of viewers Compared to the works that speak to us Each visitor drawn to something somewhere here This woman called to that painting That man to this one beckoned We are all ears, and eyes, and awed mute tongues The only sound’s the shuffle of the masses’ feet While everywhere…
Aloha kākou , I’ve got one more story in me for Hawaiian History Month. An excerpt from Hannah Grace: A Second-Generation Missionary’s Daughter “One day, after the rains, I felt I had to leave the congregation and my family. It wasn’t who I was anymore, who I became. I wanted to live with the kanaka……
Aloha BR ʻohana and readers, This is Hawaiian History Month. I often ask myself, what do I know about our monarchs? How did they shape our history? How do our history books shape them? This is my manaʻo. We Five Kings: Nā Kamehameha ʻElima ʻEkahi The legend, the conqueror, the naʻi aupuni, filled our history…
The Blue in the Stratosphere There is a light gleaming From across the vast and empty sea It is blue, like headlights from a distant far off place of stars Death It wears on a human like a robe of shining stars Like the pirouette of a dancer Like violets toward a distant moon…