ii THE BEST OF bamboo ridge THE HAWAII WRITERS’ QUARTERLY Edited by Eric Chock & Darrell H.Y. Lum Bamboo Ridge Press 1986 Copyright Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 83-73232 ISBN 0–910043–07–8 Copyright 1986 Bamboo Ridge Press Some of the work in this book has previously appeared in Bamboo Ridge, The Hawaii Writers’ Quarterly, no. 1–29, copyright 1978–1986. The table of contents cites the issue and year of copyright for each previously published selection. All rights reserved by the individual authors. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the authors. Printed in the United States. Published by Bamboo Ridge Press and the Hawaii Ethnic Resources Center: Talk Story, Inc. Editorial advisory committee: Richard Hamasaki, Marie Hara, Cheryl Harstad, James Harstad, Sheldon Hershinow, Craig Howes, Dennis Kawaharada, Ruth Lucas, Wing Tek Lum, Caroline Nakamura, Franklin Odo. Cover: Gary Nomura Line drawings: Darrell H.Y. Lum Bamboo Ridge Press is a non-profit, tax exempt organization formed to foster the appreciation, understanding, and creation of literary, visual, audio-visual and performing arts by and about Hawaii’s people. The publication of this book was supported in part by grants from the State Foundation on Culture & the Arts (SFCA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a Federal agency. The SFCA is funded by appropriations from the Hawaii State Legislature and by grants from the NEA. The grants were administered by the Hawaii Ethnic Resources Center: Talk Story, Inc. Bamboo Ridge Press P.O. Box 61781 Honolulu, Hawaii 96839-1781 10 9 8 7 6 5 95 96 97 98 iv Contents Introduction 1 Darrell H. Y. Lum 3 Local Literature and Lunch 3 Eric Chock 6 On Local Literature from Writers of Hawaii: A Focus On Our Literary Heritage, (Bamboo Ridge Press, 1981) 6 Poetry 9 Sheri Mae Akamine 11 Untitled, Bamboo Ridge #3, June 1979 11 Eric Chock, 13 Children’s poems from Small Kid Time, Bamboo Ridge #12, September 1981 Untitled by Anonymous 5th grader 14 Clear Eyes by Tkmatha F 15 Untitled by Kaipo 16 Eric Chock Termites, Bamboo Ridge #4, September 1979 17 The Mango Tree, Bamboo Ridge #4, September 1979 19 Poem for George Helm, Bamboo Ridge #9, December 1980 21 Tutu on the Curb, Bamboo Ridge #27, Summer 1985 24 Herbert Chun 25 Pa-ke, Bamboo Ridge #3, June 1979 25 v Jan Day Fehrman 27 Songs from the Ancient and Modern, Bamboo Ridge #20, Fall 1983 Wanda K. Fujimoto 29 Inheritance, Bamboo Ridge #3, June 1979 29 Caroline Garrett 30 Untitled, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 30 Dana Naone Hall 32 T’ang Fisherman, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 32 Gail N. Harada 33 Letter to Paris, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 33 Norman Hindley 35 Water Born, Bamboo Ridge #3, June 1979 35 Garrett Kaoru Hongo 37 Ass Why Hard, Bamboo Ridge #4, September 1979 37 C & H Sugar Strike Kahuku, 1923, Bamboo Ridge #4, September 1979 39 Dean H. Honma 40 To Buddy, on the Edge, Bamboo Ridge #21, Winter 1983 40 Fish Story, Bamboo Ridge #24, Fall 1984 42 Diane Kahanu 44 Ho. Just Cause I Speak Pidgin No Mean I Dumb, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 44 Dennis Kawaharada 45 Order, Bamboo Ridge #21, Winter 1983 45 Gary Kissick 46 rain quietude, Bamboo Ridge #1, December 1978 46 Jody Manabe Kobayashi 47 Dear Reiko: 1968/1978, Bamboo Ridge #1, December 1978 47 Juliet S. Kono 50 Grandmother and the War, Bamboo Ridge #7, June 1980 50 The Cane Cutters, Bamboo Ridge #7, June 1980 51 Yonsei, Bamboo Ridge #17, December 1982 52 Laurie Kuribayashi 54 Like Love, Bamboo Ridge #15, June 1982 54 Freeway Poem, Bamboo Ridge #24, Fall 1984 55 Wing Tek Lum 57 vi Contents Taking Her to the Open Market, Bamboo Ridge #5, December 1979 57 I Caught Him Once, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 59 The Poet Imagines His Grandfather’s Thoughts on the Day He Died, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 60 Riding the North Point Ferry, Bamboo Ridge #19, Summer 1983 61 Chinese Hot Pot, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 64 Michael McPherson 65 Junior Got the Snakes, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 65 Jiro and Kay Nakano, 67 editors and translators 67 Tanka from Poets Behind Barbed Wire, Bamboo Ridge #15, June 1982 67 Arrest by Sojin Takei 68 At the Volcano Internment Camp by Muin Ozaki 69 On the Ship to the Mainland by Muin Ozaki 70 Fort Sill Internment Camp by Muin Ozaki and Sojin Takei 71 Santa Fe Internment Camp by Sojin Takei 72 Death at the Camp by Keiho Soga 73 Homecoming by Sojin Takei 74 Kathy Phillips 75 Crack Seed, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 75 Kuan Yin Mingles with the Ghosts, Now on Guided Tour of the Slave Population Which Constructed the Great Wall of China, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 76 Kuan Yin Turns Her Photo Album to a Certain Point, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 77 Cathy Song 78 The Youngest Daughter, Bamboo Ridge #4, September 1979 78 Easter: Wahiawa, 1959, Bamboo Ridge #7, June 1980 80 Tribe, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 83 The White Porch, Bamboo Ridge #15, June 1982 85 William Stafford 87 On Being Local, Bamboo Ridge #9, December 1980 87 Forging a Passport, Bamboo Ridge #9, December 1980 88 Joseph Stanton 89 The Kim Chee Test, Bamboo Ridge #27, Summer 1985t 89 vii Gary Tachiyama 91 Someday, But for Now, Bamboo Ridge #1, December 1978 91 Reviewing the Scene, Bamboo Ridge #24, Fall 1984 92 Raynette R. Takizawa 95 Tansu I, Bamboo Ridge #9, December 1980 95 Wini Terada 96 Faces on the Unpaved Road Past Mokulē‘ia, Bamboo Ridge #15, June 1982 96 Debra Thomas 97 The Last Turnings of the Season’s Wheel, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 97 Where You Sleep, Bamboo Ridge #27, Summer 1985 102 Jean Yamasaki Toyama 103 etiquette, Bamboo Ridge #9, December 1981 103 Jo Ann M. Uchida 104 Fever, Bamboo Ridge #1, December 1978 104 Martha Webb 107 Song at Hanalei, Bamboo Ridge #5, December 1979 107 The Anatomy of the Infinite, Bamboo Ridge #5, December 1979 108 Jill E. Widner 109 Las Horas de Verdad (The Hours of Truth), Bamboo Ridge #15, June 1982 109 Trembling, Bamboo Ridge #15, June 1982 111 Rob Wilson 112 Anita Sky, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 112 Tamara Wong-Morrison 113 Strange Scent, Bamboo Ridge #20, Fall 1983 113 Prose 115 Marshall M. Doi 117 The Luna of the Landing, Bamboo Ridge #1, December 1978 117 Virgilio Menor Felipe 123 Chapter I. Once in the First Times from What You Like Know? An Oral Biography of Bonipasyo, Bamboo Ridge #11, June 1981 123 Gail N. Harada 130 Waiting for Henry, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 130 Violet Harada 136 viii The Shell Gatherer, Bamboo Ridge #14, March 1982 136 Clara Mitsuko Jelsma 139 Excerpt from Teapot Tales, Bamboo Ridge #4, September 1979 139 Hiroshi Kawakami 144 Excerpt from Who Da Guy? Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 144 Jody Manabe Kobayashi 150 In Search of Girls’ Day, Bamboo Ridge #11, June 1981 150 Charles M. Kong 154 Pele’s Own, Bamboo Ridge #3, June 1979 154 Tony Lee 161 Nowadays Not Like Before, Bamboo Ridge #1, December 1978 161 Darrell H.Y. Lum 168 Beer Can Hat, Bamboo Ridge #8, September 1980 168 Primo Doesn’t Take Back Bottles Anymore, Bamboo Ridge #8, September 1980 176 Paint, Bamboo Ridge #27, Summer 1985 180 Rodney Morales 185 Daybreak over Haleakala, Bamboo Ridge #29, Winter 1985 185 Susan Nunes 201 The Confession, Bamboo Ridge #16, September 1982 201 The Grandmother, Bamboo Ridge #16, September 1982 207 Ty Pak 211 Guilt Payment, Bamboo Ridge #18, Spring 1983 211 Patsy S. Saiki 223 Communion, Bamboo Ridge #6, March 1980 223 Wini Terada 231 Intermediate School Hapai, Bamboo Ridge #5, December 1979 231 Toshi 245 A Letter to Hisae from Born of the Pacific, Bamboo Ridge #2, March 1979 245 Mary Wakayama 261 Go to Home, Bamboo Ridge #13, December 1981 261 Sylvia A. Watanabe 265 The Prayer Lady, Bamboo Ridge #25, Winter 1985 265 Frederick B. Wichman 270 Na Keiki O Na-‘Iwi, Bamboo Ridge #28, Fall 1985 270 Stephen H. Sumida 276 ix Contents Waiting for the Big Fish: Recent Research in the Asian American Literature of Hawaii 276 Contributors’ Notes 294 Copyright x Darrell H. Y. Lum LOCAL LITERATURE AND LUNCH There’s an island surf shop called Local Motion where you can buy T-shirts that say “Locals Only.” Anyone can shop there, even tourists. And locals and tourists alike buy “Locals Only” shirts because they’re brightly colored, full of geometric New Wave designs, and they say “Hawaii” right there in front. There’s also a lunch that’s quick and cheap that you can buy at drive-in restaurants and coffee shops called a “loco-moco.” It’s a bed of rice topped by a hamburger patty topped by an over-easy fried egg and smothered in brown gravy. Real locals then add salt, pepper, shoyu, and ketchup before digging in! And there’s always saimin, a noodles-in-soup dish that you’ll never find in Japan or China. It’s a distinctly local invention along with the plate lunch. Watch where the truck drivers and businessmen and surfers always end up. It’s usually at a lunch wagon (one of those delivery vans outfitted with a propane warming table and a flip-up side that reveals a serving counter), serving up a nutritional night- mare on a paper plate along the beaches, the waterfront, at construction sites, even right outside City Hall.