Ukumehame


Red shifted rainbow pillors
squat on the burnished horizon
a roil in the sweep of clouds
gathering sullenly over Puu Olai
eye of the gathering storm

in the east an orange dullness
contourless until the sun breaks out
shocking remembrance of definition
in the smoke filled volume of valley
broad and deep, Ukumehame

Outside where the surface is smooth
resisting the coaxings of the wind
paying attention to the last set
which has left its memory in its wake
I turn the redİrailed longboard

Beer cans, butts of cigarettes
a cotton sock in the dirty sand
detritus of consumptive beachgoers
everyplace is sacred, everyplace profane
we would trash the altar of Kanaloa

a trip across the cicatrix highway
through a bramble and kiawe
dirt black with centipede shapes
to witness a tractor mauling a cane field
slow heavy tread among the smoking stalks

and wait for a dimpling of the horizon
until a shadow obscures Kahoolawe
and then presents as lazy walls
marching leisurely toward the beach
breaking from top down into rolling foam

The world is burning everything
all the exhausted cars working
the shotglass of highway to Lahaina
all the freudian fires fanning the wind
in the controlled burns of Pioneer Mill

all the rancid exhaled smoke
and acrid incinerated refuse
has bloodied the face of the sky
bright countenance no longer
the wind cannot wash away this stench
let one pass, another, and then
scramble for the peak as it crumbles
feel the lurch of engagement
gain my feet so that like a malolo
I fly for an eternity of seconds

But through the gloom, the delicate moon
has scattered its light among the sunset waters
a glittering confinement of points
reminder of that earlier night
of stars reflected in a bay's still waters