The Ending’s Beginning

This is the end of it, I think, standing stiff after 7 hours in the air,the snaking line of terminal … More

Traditional Change

It’s billed as A Match Made in Heaven, a revered traditional Korean love storycarried down from a bygone age to … More

War Story

On Jeju Island we travel rough backroads on our small bus,bumping along narrowly through perfectly planted fields,row on row of … More

How Everything Fades

In the evening as the sun slips down in the horizon line,I see myself glimmering in the airport window glass,a … More

Old Acquaintance

You surprise me, knocking on my door after 15 years,but I recognize that face behind the mask instantly.The last time … More

Blood

Are you a friends and family, or a family and friends type of person? Whenever I say it or write … More

Death Certificates

Kahi felt like an idiot. He’d seen this so many times on TV, read about it in stories. If you … More

Madison WI

I’ll be back next March 2023, aftera three-year hiatus has cost me time. It’s become a kindly drug that worksto … More

State Your Name and Your Business Here

I’m not used to such formality, and there’s the additional layerof being ordered to do this by a man wearing … More

All Those Miles

Taking hits between rehearsing scenes of Oliver!Smoking all the time during dances and concertsDriving home smashed Saturday nights from Wai‘alae Drive-InDrunk … More

A Hallmark Moment

My friend calls to tell me a co-worker,rushed to Queen’s Hospital the night before,had undergone an emergency quadruple-bypass. The others … More

Stay Away

I recall the manapua,my favorite steamed char siu buns,half-moons and pork hash.The box half full or half empty? When that … More

The Clock on the Wall

Exactly a year from now, I wonder ifI’ll be sitting at my computer writing something?I believe I foresee a good … More

I Had a Dream

This morning I had an enormous idea.I’m talking it was spectacular, my friends. I woke up from a dream where … More

Like Wow

Holy moly, how this warrior keeps waltzing out of hell;It would be a drag, I suppose, if he lost a … More

Introspection Dialogue

You look at me as if what you seeshould make you mean something moreto you than what you are. I … More

Soundproof

For the first two years in Madison, I live in Susan Bradford Hall. It’s on Greek Row. Once a dorm … More

Fever

When you see your shadowfollowing you around, youmay imagine someoneworking for the FBI, CIA,or any of those surveillanceagencies has been … More

Gaze

I squint, and even though I oddly see you tiny and distorted through the peephole, I can make out her … More

Social Interaction

Returning, your tongue must be hung on a coat hook, your language each evening left skewered at the door, as … More