by Paul Willis
Just when you think the Indians
of the central coast of California
have disappeared out to sea,
their names keep washing up
on the beaches, dunes, and promontories:
Pismo, Nipomo, Jalama.
Hueneme, Mugu, Malibu.
The peaks stand up and word themselves: Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Daniel Garcia
It is 10:00. You are in Dr. Caneen’s English 2500 class and it is, thus far, your least favorite class of your major. You will never understand why you were required to take this course, instead of the intro to your concentration, which is Creative Writing, not Literary fucking Analysis. Regardless, she is lecturing today, but only part of you is listening, because you have a chicken biscuit in front of you, you have dipped it in barbecue sauce and, Christ, does it look divine. Continue reading
Filed under Nonfiction
by John F. Buckley
I’ll keep the belly fat making me pant as I tie
my shoes. You can have taking the elevator.
I’ll keep the failure to floss. You can have opening
beer bottles with your teeth. I wish my canines
were still pointy. I’ll keep abdominal rumbles,
gut bloat, gassiness. I was a colicky baby, still might be. Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Liz Prato
Bombs exploded seven miles away. Seven miles looked like a lot less at night, when the only thing between me and the bombs was a dark ribbon of ocean. The flares were like giant Roman Candles streaking into the indigo sky. Sometimes the sonic booms rattled the windows on Maui, and once an unexploded bomb landed in the Maui mayor’s cow pasture. The dark ribbon of ocean protecting me from the assault was the ʻAlalākeiki Channel, the waterway separating the southwestern coast of Maui from the island of Kaho‘olawe. Continue reading
Filed under Nonfiction
by Gary Lai
Ezra Pound fought with all of his might but
in the end he put a huge, ugly ai
in the middle of his big fat poem
that showed anything but love for China.
The book’s typesetter doesn’t speak Chinese
and used a font that is ten times too large. Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
Hawaii Pacific Review 