Hawai'i Pride 'ole

Hawai'i Pride 'ole¹ {Hawaii}

I can't stand it here,
the eternal summer is attuned to entities not accustomed to change;
short-timers and newcomers call this heaven
though the haoles² disagree

I've begun to hate Pele³ and her volcano that put us all here in the middle
of an ocean of maybe. Still
waters are the draw, though the surfers don't believe in anything
but sex wax⁴ and how to avoid the sharks;
it's not my place to disagree.

To this day, I won't drive on U.S. 3⁵ ,
not because of the spirits but because of the bullets,
and I want to say to those that discovered this land before Captain Cook⁶
yes, you may have kept me off your lands, but you've also kept me
out of your life.
if you can live with your arrogant loneliness, so be it, but don't you dare
ask for my support
when you claim I can't understand because of the color
of your skin.


¹ 'ole (pronunciation: oh-lay) Hawaiian term for nothingness.
² Haole (pronunciation: how-lee) Hawaiian racial epithet for Caucasians.
³ Pele (pronunciation: pay-lay)Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes, and a Brazilian Soccer god.
⁴ Sex wax is used on surfboards to help increase traction.
⁵ Road built over Hawaiian sacred ground.
⁶ Cook was one of the first whites to arrive on Hawaii.