RIGHT ON KEIA


Wen you play 
dis crazy game

nutting is really da same

so you go easy, easy,
and be right on keia.


No freak ‘um out,
just blow kisses from da mouth,

and make dem realize
dat you know wat it’s all about,

right on keia 

half and half
hurricane and gentle wind.


Watch da leaves in da trees

and see da various degrees
on how tings stay gusting.


Read it all like wun map
and give ‘um right on keia

half and half
hurricane and gentle wind.


No even trip it,
moa bettah you HIP it,

so bebop da constant cop

trying to arrest
your innate sense of reason

and continue wit 
right on keia

half and half
hurricane and gentle wind.


Keep it level to da eye

even dough 
you stay up in da sky

and make 
da buggahs question why

dey no can bring you down.


Deah’s only one way to play,
as you move from day to day,

right on keia

half and half
hurricane and gentle wind.



right on keia        Keia means “this” in Hawaiian.
HIP                      Acronym for Hawaiian Islands Pidgin. 

Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (HIP) and in American English. He has also created works in visual poetry and music poetry.  He is the author of Pidgin Eye, a book of poetry.  Balaz is an avid supporter of Hawaiian Islands Pidgin writing and art in the expanding context of World literature.  He presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.