LOOK AT DA NOKEKULA

Look at da nokekula

just like wun ballerina

floating on da pond.

She stay floating

in your mind,

floating in your eyes,

and floating freely,

in front of wun large flotilla

of male nene.

Dey all stay

moving in like battleships

to check da haole bird out.

If you

like chance foa score

you bettah

jump in da watah

before dat beautiful

winged creature

takes to da sky

and flies away.

Look at da nokekula

wit da graceful neck

and da Cleopatra sunblock

shielding her knowing eyes.

nokekula       Swan.

nene              Hawaiian geese.

haole             Foreigner.          

Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai’i Creole English)

and American English.  He is the author of Pidgin Eye, a book of poetry.

The book was featured in 2019 by NBC News for Asian Pacific American

Heritage Month, as one of the best new books to be written by a Pacific

Islander.

In July, 2020, he was given the Elliot Cades Award for Literature as an

Established Writer. It is the most prestigious literary award given in

Hawai’i.

Balaz presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.