Black or White

Randol explained to me one timeThe difference between black and whiteOne slims, the other does notEspecially when someone’s taking your … More

In the Next

I appreciated the raise you encouraged me to ask forEuphoric like hopscotching over an imaginary lineSensing the end of some … More

Let There Be Peace on Earth

Five consonants and three vowelsCombine to create 28 charactersThe Korean alphabet“Hangeul”A simplified writing system for the peopleIts ease of comprehensionPromotes … More

Going, Going

We are seat mates from O’Hare to HonoluluHe lives on an island between Hawai’i and AustraliaI’ve not heard of the … More

Flying My First Kite

We run together in the strong windThe two of us launching my first kiteHe’d made for meCutting and gluing the … More

Death on the Nile

Is it true, my guide asks, that America views this as a third-world countryThat we consider Egypt’s development to be … More

One Way of Looking

This morning while I was working in the yardI looked up and saw a mynah birdPerched on a limb of … More

On the Clock

The catch is always just one slip upIt fits as an apt prescriptive descriptionI’m what I’ve become so here I … More

At the Bar

I felt the slight pressure on my shoulder The kind that promises the ride of your life, Before you read … More

The Swans at Wells

An elderly gentleman beams red-facedNeatly bearded and dressed in a black tuxedoHe stands in the park feeding birdsBehind the Wells … More

The Bird Lady of Āliamanu

She was a lover who’d found something to love wholeheartedlyEveryone knew her as the Bird Lady of Āliamanu IntermediateThe school … More

The Former Bird Lady of Queen’s Surf

My maternal grandmother often went to Queen’s SurfWhere she’d sit and feed the birds They recognized her and would flock … More

The Bird Lady of Castle Memorial

She had a thing for birdsMolded out of clayWoven with yarnEmbroidered on her clothes She did that with the Aloha … More

The Birds of Kuykendall Hall

There was an inspirational reason behind the design detailThose novel three stories of floor-to-ceiling glassThe grand transparent window walls of … More

Life from Death

I find these bodies often in the yardRaking, I’ll come across a nestAnd lying nearby, a baby, featherlessBrought down by … More

Last Flight

Birds have that gift of flightTheir lives so simple seemingEating and sleepingBusy nest buildersTrue, they have predatorsFrom which we couldn’t … More

A Fan with a Plan

There are 30 minutes to go before the start of the game. Not many fans of either team are seated … More

End of Session

None of our tough questions get answeredHard heads and tight lips and red facesHiding truths under armor cracks of brief … More

The Friendly Stranger in the 1974 Black Mercury Marquis

When he stepped out of his carI stood still in Mānoa Shopping CenterI thought he was Tom SelleckBut on second … More

Litterbug

As he headed down McCarthy Mall to the faculty union meeting in Kuykendall Auditorium, Dr. Terry Hong saw a boy … More