hawai'i
naked creatures drawing in the black
buoyant and green turtles
the long windy highway.
hallucinations at the top of mauna kea
angels demons cloud your vision
whilst rays open eyes.
pink, purple, blue fly by
hard lava flow rock
another crater in history.
red hot sticky passion
playing in the waves of the ocean
papaya brunch, itchs tea.
faint stars but bright planets
heaps of aloha to cleanse the soul
enough warmth soothes spirits.
I visited New Zealand's North Island the Winter of 2004, and then Hawai'i's Big Island the following year. The experiences were enlightening and enlivening to me, to learn about indigenous Polynesian cultures and experiences, and how Maori and Hawai'ian traditions and beliefs flow in and out of each other. I observed at first hand the continued colonization of these peoples in their own homelands, after two centuries of conquest by Europeans or Americans, and also the 'traveler' culture that objectifies and patronizes cultures and also demands validity as its own entity. These impressions left a big impact on me and my poetry, and here are a few of my favourites.
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