by Edythe Haendel Schwartz
Pahoehoe lava shelf. Blue skies.
Wind on our tongues, we speak of her,
brace ourselves to meet each jolt of memory–
how her fingers could pull octopi
from holes. Wind on our tongues, we speak
of heart, of ribs the surgeons pulled apart
the way her fingers would pull octopi
from holes. Surgeons tried to fix the fault Continue reading
by Arah Ko
King Kamehameha stands, shrouded in gold,
staring out into the open
ocean, gazing east, right hand held out:
a greeting, or perhaps a sign for white Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Juliet S. Kono
I.
Every bone of roast chicken we ate
at my grandparents’ we stripped
of meat and sucked, before adding them
to the bowl for Mother to take.
She washed the clacking bones
and boiled them for hours, Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Loren Moreno
What little I knew about my real father
was used to shame me.
Not-real Daddy would say, One of these
is not like the others. My sisters and I, shoulder-to-shoulder—
I’m this brown, dark thing against their milky Portuguese.
Their long black hair falling in waves. Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Cameron Morse
Vampire you call me, leaving for work,
me at home, on SSI, unemployed.
Vampire for shutting the door
to my study, for lowering
the blinds, for sucking, sucking
you dry: my cook, my bank, my wife. Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
Hawaii Pacific Review 