Mo'olelo

Because I'm not Hawai'ian, and I feel bad about the stupid stereotypes mainlanders have about Hawai'i and its people...

Our bones are as hard as black lava rock.
Our hearts are as strong as the surf.
Look past the hibiscus hulas
plumaria leis and aloha sarongs.
See us, the people who sailed the Pacific
in outrigger boats the size of your minivan
three thousand miles of no-exit freeway
laid on the unwritten face of the ocean.
We are the people who live on these islands
breathers of steam and tamers of hurricanes
home in a landscape of fire and waterfalls
home where the earth’s blood flows close to the surface
rooted in salt water and mo’olelo
rooted in black rock and stronger than stone.


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