Fast-food short-order poet
I make you a poem,
Built into endings: New beginnings
“The island’s beaches are very different now from when I was growing up in Anahola,” said the older gentleman we met walking the coastal path in the Lydgate Park area on the sunny morn of New Year’s Day. “The sea is changing the coastlines.”
Ho-ho-ho and merry-merry-ing island style
Here we carreen toward the last week of a rollercoaster year, a cluster of holy days (“holidays”). Some folks are up, some down. Some have trees up and decked, lights lit, planning and shopping done, finalized their creative gifts, made their last mail deadlines for sending packages and cards out, and have planned their holiday family and special-occasion meals apples to nuts.
Ensuring life in the garden, and beyond
Danger! Roaring sounds begin. Great wheels — then blades — begin turning, chopping. Run! Crawl! Hop, if you can! Scurry into fern clumps, between ti leaf stalks. Dive into underbrush, burrow into flowerpots and beds, in crevices below roots. Fly, if blessed with wings, into high boughs. Yeow… the roar ends, but now a whine of whacking as a killing stalk whirrs close and closer into the borders where some cranny of safety might be found.
Relying on health care, island-style
There wasn’t one place remaining for a vehicle with a handicapped sign to park.
Of neighborhood watches and warnings
Lock? Latch? No need, I was told when first living and working on island. True, not many people locked homes or cars back then — that is, local neighborhood homes or cars (the more simple and nondescript the better), not necessarily vacation residences or rented transport.
Hana hou-ing the ‘Hidden life of trees’
It’s always pure pleasure to receive feedback from fans of TGI’s Forum column, “The Green Flash.” This Monday I’m moved to reprise, or “hana hou,” the Aug. 5, 2019, column, “Confessing to a love of trees,” which brought several interesting responses. I had included some of these (and am always open to feedback).
New car lusting, questing and educating
“I am not a ‘thing’-oriented person,” I reminded myself as two of my friends came tootling up in red cars that shone sassy-sweet as candy apples. “I am not my car,” I reminded myself again as others came along in snappy, ocean-blue and polar-white, brand-new SUVs and hybrids equipped with all the newest bells and whistles, including back-up views.
Inviting students: Back-to-school bird-watching opportunity
Usually I picture my readers at all ages, but this column will focus upon students from fifth through 12th grades, particularly students who are drawn to nature and like to think carefully about what they see, hear and imagine.
Islanded — Armchair voyaging from Kauai to the Solomons
“Islanded.” That’s a word I did not use until I settled on Kauai. It’s a simple word, actually the simple past tense and past participle of the verb form of the word “island.” If you live on a large continent, it’s not a word you have occasion to use.
Confessing to a love of trees
This column, my focus shifts to breathe in the healing green of trees rather than concentrate on the contention of a minority of Hawaiian people who break laws and strew opala, rubbish, on the bosom of the beloved Mauna Kea.
Wondering about opposition to wayfinding
Coming out of the week of the full moon and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, our eyes have been guided skyward, and our minds to the courageous feats of the sky wayfinders.
Admitting addiction to ink and paper, hands-on print processes
It’s been a week since a poet friend of mine stated matter-of-factly that it will not be long until newspapers — paper editions, that is — will be a thing of the past.
Sizzling and soliloquizing at summer solstice
It is the doves’ peaceful “coo-roo” with slanting June sunlight that wakes me now, although it’s the scarlet cardinal and his mate I see pecking around on the lawn under the allamanda vine as I peer through the louvers of our bedroom window.
Peace can flow like a river
What a good thing that I didn’t sink into this past Friday eve’s peaceful, r&r mode to “chill.” Instead, abandoning the chance to settle into my favorite chair with a book and glass of cool sangria in hand, I “hele’d on down” to the Kapaa Public Library meeting room. I was drawn to hear retired Col. Ann Wright speak on global politics and peace-building missions.
Becoming wisely wary
My violin bow coaxes a jaunty, toe-tapping rhythm playing “Ryan’s Rant” as I send love and healing thoughts daily to my 21-year-old grandson Ryan as a musical prayer. Others have been sending prayers for his recovery of health, too — greatly appreciated.
Celebrating moms, ice cream ‘n summer days
The world turns fast: Here we are, not quite two full weeks into May and we’ve celebrated May Day, Lei Day, the National Day of Prayer and, just yesterday, our moms on the capital “O” Official Mothers Day.
Excerpt from a poem by Mary Oliver
It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in this broken world.
Drinking in the tonic of good news
“How do you get ideas for your columns?” Green Flash readers ask from time to time. The reply is that there is never a time when there aren’t several ideas vying for attention, and each one leaps or links to another in a chain of association.
Inspiring annually in Sparky’s Peace Garden
“On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty / Today is such a day.” — Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi As April comes, wafting the fresh new breath of spring over our island and surrounding seas, this quote from Rumi seems perfect, fitting as it was when composed centuries ago.