The Gift

You could not read the name of the store. It had been painted, who knew how long ago, in white … More

Dream

And then for the tourists’s dream vacationit snows like hell in Hawai‘i, for goodness sake.Waikīkī’s transformed into White-kiki,and surf’s down … More

Heritage Song

We Koreans converge on Hawai‘i Theatre tonight,all bows and the scent of garlic-laced dinners, lots of quick head nods and Annyeong … More

Of Fall and Winter

Of Fall and Winter All is vivid green here today, the sustained rainsheeting its clear wrapped folds down all around … More

Aloha Shirt Man

I’m sure I don’t have the largest collection of Aloha shirts in the world, but I do have the largest … More

And this, too, is Paradise

Here in paradise they’ll paytake me to Hawai‘i neiHome of Diamond Headpearly shells from the oceanTourists negotiate the poornight and … More

Flight

We’re off now, I guess, with your leaving here,since I’m pretty sure that ends whatever this was.O‘ahu is too small … More

Enlightenment 

CAST Old McGann (MCGANN): A smart old cockroach who has learned all the survival techniques passed down over the last … More

E komo/kipa mai?

It’s fuckin fucked up ovah here Everybody coming not jes for play tourist But fo fuckin live, permanent kine, like … More

An Old Salt

“Look,” my wife says, “they don’t go all the way under.” I see but am not relieved. “They lock you … More

A City That Is Very Dear

Frances Silverwood and David Lindemanused my home, Pacific Heights,in their 1919 song, “Honolulu I Am Coming Back Again.” Commissioned to … More

The Homecoming (Part Six)

He and Mel had been out drinking with the gang, but everyone else had pooped out and gone home.  Tomorrow … More

The Homecoming (Part Five)

In this post-pandemic world, travel had become trickier.  On top of the health layers, people didn’t act the way they … More

The Homecoming (Part Four)

He sipped the tea, sat back in his chair, and closed his eyes.  You can always tell a good Chinese … More

The Homecoming (Part Three)

His plane had arrived late. Too late to ride the party bus. Sipping his tea, he watched the old woman … More

The Homecoming (Part Two)

He sipped his tea.  Black tea in the daytime, green tea at night, right?  Or was it the other way … More

The Homecoming (Part One)

He sat at the empty round table sipping watery black tea, wondering what had happened to those 75 years.  Of … More

Friends

My childhood friend tried to claim the sky belonged to him.  As we sat there on the lānai, looking out … More

Race

In Hawai‘i, my Korean half dominates my look, so I blendin with the majority, no one can even tell I’m … More

The Lurch (Part Two)

He’d heard that phrase all his life, but never thought much about what it might mean.  Maybe he might’ve been … More