Aloha hou kākou!
The writers, artists, and editors of Ka Noio ‘A‘e ‘Ale welcome you back to the wonderful world of local creative writing with our latest accomplishment, Kū Kilakila: Writing from the Big Island.
Working off of the experience we gained during our last publication, we decided to bring the focus back “home,” and this newest collection became a celebration of the places and peoples of this special island. Not since 1979 and Talk Story, Big Island has an anthology been produced to highlight what’s different about this place…
And the major difference you’ll immediately see in perusing Kū Kilakila is the thematic organization of the material inside. Rather than relying on author-centered divisions, we decided on dividing the various short stories, poems, and essays into five separate perspectives—community, culture, identity, history, and literature/language. This change was done with the intent of making the discussion of the Big Island central to this project.
With the support of the UH Hilo/Hawaiʻi CC Board of Student Publication, The Office of Student Equity, Excellence, and Diversity (SEED) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, we undertook a mixing of established professional writers—including poet Juliet Kono and songwriter Larry Kimura (one of the contributors of Talk Story, Big Island)—with emerging voices from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College. Back from Making Waves are Mona Livsey, Bobby Richards, Achena Finik, Jason M. Foxworthy, and L. Mika Tsunehiro. Newer participants include Gerald Ramsey (American Sāmoa), Ginger Takeshita (Western Sāmoa), Abigail Popoitai (Papua New Guinea), Stuart Mori (Chuuk, F.S.M.), and Elina Fred (Kosrae, F.S.M.). This book is further enhanced by a large number of Native Hawaiian participants, who can be found alongside their classmates of Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Latino/a, Laotian, Okinawan, and/or Anglo-American ancestry. We are proud of this diversity, which has influenced and shaped the culture and history of the Big Island, and we are humbled and grateful for the opportunity to share this with you.
We dedicate this work to the memory of Theresa Haunani Bernardino, who taught us that standing proud was not just a privilege, but the shared responsibility of all.
Excerpts from the Book
- Beautiful Bridge by L. Mika Tsunehiro
- Beauty by Mona Livsey
- Sweat by Gerald Ramsey
- Ode to the Unnamed Fisherman by Kristel Castro
- Faddah by Loren Pabila
- Paper by Robin Wittrock
- Tomato by Abigail Popoitai
- For Our Hawaiʻi by Bobby H. K. Richards
- Stand by Charae Galigo
- Ode to the Cockroach by Jessica Garcia
- Rhythm by Katherine Shiroma
Contents
Selected contributions are available as preview samples and are marked as: [Sample]
Beyond Talk Story by Seri L. Luangphinith
Acknowledgements
Community: In this Place...
- A Sense of Place by Juliet S. Kono
- Mauna Kea by Tiffany Balala
- My Moon Meadow by Juliet S. Kono
- Mokuola by Lehuanani Waipā Ah Nee
- Cliffs Long Love by Robin Wittrock
- ‘O ke Awāwa ‘o Waipi‘o by Dana Lynn Kapi‘olani Borabora
- The World I Live In by Achena Finik
- Maku‘u by Lehuanani Waipā Ah Nee
- Ali‘i Drive by Jessica Garcia
- Babies Cry by Loren Pabila
- Location Disclosed by Kristel Castro
- _The Time When…_by Robin Wittrock
- Beautiful Bridge by L. Mika Tsunehiro [Sample]
- Hilo Rains by Jessica Garcia
- Paradise Park by Kristel Castro
- The East Side by Loren Pabila
- Lehua by Sanna Ancheta Schweitzer
- I, ‘Ōhi‘a by Jessica Garcia
- My Home by Ginger Takeshita
- Wanting Home by Jennifer Lui
- Phone Home by Abigail Popoitai
- Kosrae—Isle of the Sleeping Lady by Elina Violet Fred
- Mountain Danger by L. Mika Tsunehiro
- K-E-A-U-K-A-H-A by Lehuanani Waipā Ah Nee
- Fairyland by Jessica Garcia
- City Boy: Volcano Village by Juliet S. Kono
- Rain for a Friend by Katherine Shiroma
- Beauty by Mona Livsey [Sample]
- Big Island by Loren Pabila
Culture: Our Ways...
- A Way of Living, a Way of Writing by Kainani Kahaunaele
- Alighting by Loren Pabila
- Sweat by Gerald Ramsey [Sample]
- Ka Hīnano o Puna by Kainani Kahaunaele
- Lū‘au by Kristel Castro
- ‘Ohana by Mona Livsey
- Sunday by Robin Wittrock
- Turkey Day by Katherine Shiroma
- Jogging by Abigail Popoitai
- Batayaki Night by Kristel Castro
- New Year by L. Mika Tsunehiro
- Pounding Mochi by Jennifer Lui
- Family Gathering by Shawna Bautista
- Obligations by Jennifer Lui
- My Fausi by Rachel H. Jennings
- Ode to the Unnamed Fisherman by Kristel Castro [Sample]
- Heartbeat of Aloha by Janet Crum
- Hula Lies by Mona Livsey
- Tokia (Stick Dance) by Lori Reuney
- Na‘u ‘Oe by Kainani Kahaunaele
- ‘Ōhai ‘Ula by Kainani Kahaunaele
- Fue by Ginger Takeshita
- Pii-naks by Achena Finik
- Paintings by Tiffany Balala
Identity: We Be...
- F(rom) B(ig) I(sland)? by Mark Panek
- Small Kid Time by Mona Livsey
- Faddah by Loren Pabila [Sample]
- Aunty Flow by Katherine Shiroma
- Return by Abigail Popoitai
- Paper by Robin Wittrock [Sample]
- Respect by Gerald Ramsey
- Struck by Lightning by Bobby H.K. Richards
- Na‘au by Lehuanani Waipā Ah Nee
- Tomato by Abigail Popoitai [Sample]
- Monster by Katherine Shiroma
- Rising Costs by Jennifer Lui
- Night Sky by Rachel H. Jennings
- Eyeglasses by Dana Lynn Kapi‘olani Borabora
- “Flip” Style Fun by Tiffany Balala
- O Lou Fa‘atamala by Gerald Ramsey
- Trapped Aiga by Ginger Takeshita
- Aloha by T. Ilihia Gionson
- Paradise Found: Big Island Pest Management by Jason M. Foxworthy
- The Red Hot Market by Mark Panek
- Ojiisan by Tiffany Balala
- Falling into Place by Lara Stroud
- Growing Up in Pana‘ewa by Kristel Castro
- Afatasi by Gerald Ramsey
- I was Young by Bobby H.K. Richards
- I am… by Katherine Shiroma
- Can’t You Hear It? by Shawna Bautista
- To Live by Lehuanani Waipā Ah Nee
- Country Antithesis by Charae Galigo
- Lychee Season by Seri I. Luangphinith
- Important Ingredients for a Fale by Ginger Takeshita
- Heaven by Dana Lynn Kapi‘olani Borabora
- We Be (Group Poem)
History: Remember When...
- Portable Histories by Russell H. Shitabata
- Pele and Kamapua‘a by Lehuanani Waipā Ah Nee
- Kanilehua by Kristel Castro
- The Lost World by Jennifer Lui
- For Our Hawaiʻi by Bobby H.K. Richards [Sample]
- Ghost Tree of Pāhoa by Alexandra Tefft
- ‘Alae Cemetery by Robin Wittrock
- Bloody Monday by L. Mika Tsunehiro
- Bottle on the Shelf by Shawna Bautista
- Honoka‘a by Shawna Bautista
- Scrapbook by Tiffany Balala
- Waipi‘o Valley’s Waters by Dana Lynn Kapi‘olani Borabora
- Fishing the Past by Russell H. Shitabata
- Misconception by Kristel Castro
- Stand by Charae Galigo [Sample]
- The News by Bobby H.K. Richards
- Etena by Rachel H. Jennings
- Footprints by Seri I. Luangphinith
- Panavision by T. Ilihia Gionson
Literature and Language: "In a Word..."
- ‘Iliwai—On a Level by Larry Lindsey Kimura
- Kāna Mau Mākana by Dana Lynn Kapi‘olani Borabora
- Ode to the Cockroach by Jessica Garcia [Sample]
- Ode to the Termite by Kristel Castro
- Local Literature: Chicken Soup for the Local Soul by Kristel Castro
- Glass by Gerald Ramsey
- Rhythm by Katherine Shiroma [Sample]
- Dear Craig by Achena Finik
- Tree by Robin Wittrock
- The Truth by Achena Finik
- Nā Pali o Waipi‘o by Dana Lynn Kapi‘olani Borabora
- C-a-b-b-a-g-e by L. Mika Tsunehiro
- Where is My Local, So I can Write Local Literature? by L. Mika Tsunehiro
- Waterfall by Shawna Bautista
- Local or Hawaiian: Why Ethnicity Shouldn’t Matter by Shawna Bautista
- A Toast to King Tut by Emil DeAndreis
- Aloha, Goodbye by Loribeth Chenault
- Kieki by Stuart A. Mori
- Nekeinen Fan Mwarii by Stuart A. Mori
- Ode to the Ugly Duckling by Abigail Popoitai
- Unnoticed by Charae Galigo
- Woman’s Reflections by Rachel H. Jennings
- Kin by Bobby H.K. Richards
- Dumb Love by Bobby H.K. Richards