Never Gone

I take great comfort in knowing thisThat the dead still live in my memories of themSo they are with me … More

My name is Lanning, and I’m a floss-oholic

My addiction began with my bracesThe pain they brought bothering me as nothingCompared to the agonizing torture inflictedBy bits of … More

How I Grew

I remember the photo shootOnly because it’s burned in my brainFrom daily seeing myself posed in the frameDressed in little … More

Mo’ Bettah

In Hawai‘i we might say“This one mo’ bettah than that one” for, say, a flavor of shave ice,and perhaps, “This … More

Love’s Mark

Your grave does look newNot just the polished markerI see the way the green grass spreads out behind itTo a … More

No Hard Feelings?

When I was boundWas I bound tightFrank Gorshin pleaseRiddle me this How can you ever feelYou’ve been turned freeWhen you … More

Love Luck

The day is young and I am notSo slowly walk this beaten pathMy daily pondering strollScanning the surroundingsSearching for a … More

The least I can do

In the last years I wonderWhy I have to do thisVisit in the nursing homeNow that your mind is goneAnd … More

Tell Don’t Show

A writer should show and not tellI’ve heard that advice foreverSo if you and I were a storyThe better final … More

Re: LAX

One night flying home from ArgentinaI suffered an unavoidable layover in LAXArriving at 8:00 p.m. exhaustedMy connecting flight to HonoluluWould … More

Gordon Lightfoot Rose

Those weren’t soft footstepsTip-toeing up the stairsWhen Gordon Lightfoot took offJumped the last jet planeTo rise whole and healedFar above … More

Like a New Year’s Resolution

You replace a faucet set on one of your sinks, the old one having ceased to function. How many times … More

What the child sees

And wraith-like rollsSome marble maybeSmiles at nothing visibleAs far as I can seePlays some internal gameKnown only to herWith the … More

Was Light Is Will Be

His was the hand of light isWherever it wavedIn his wave we saw intoWithout end will see beyond darkness All … More

Coming out on Top

At last it looked like the summit could be reached in no time. Although asleep, I still felt energy radiating … More

Escaping the Tree

In my dream, I told Kimo and Alta to stay put.  If that crying was the cat calling out, then … More

Life Is Pieces

My father swinging a pickaxe rhythmicallyUp over his head and slamming it downThe point piercing hard red clayBreaking it all … More

Saving the Singer

Any fear Kimo had of this being a trap evaporated instantly. Off he trotted toward the singing damsel in distress. … More

The Voice

Kimo and I advanced cautiously up the hill. When we reached spots where the old man had difficulty, I, as … More

The Escape

Even though I heard the question, and certainly understood it, I couldn’t remember, in my fever, what my name was. … More