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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, February 20, 2005

READERS' THOUGHTS
Poetry in the Grain

 •  An homage to rice
 •  Old-time talk story: Memories of Rice
 •  Poetry: Growing With Rice
 •  Contemporary, winner: Few Things in Life Are as Constant or Comforting
 •  Contemporary, runner up: Mommy's Fried Rice

Advertiser Staff

Reader submissions touched on the common themes and moving moments, creating a form of poetry:

"Mr. Rhu in Eunhang Dong," by Jonggu Lee, South Korea, 1991, acrylic on paper. From the collection of the artist.

Don Cole • UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History


THE ART OF RICE

"THE ART OF RICE: Spirit and Sustenance in Asia"

Through April 24, Henry R. Luce Gallery, Honolulu Academy of Arts. An exploration of the material and spiritual importance of rice in 12 Asian cultures.

Information: 532-8700

• "Ossan" in the yagura tower, pulling on the tin can and foil plate noisemakers to chase away the mejiro birds, eager to feed on the rice in a family's Wailua River valley paddy. — Linda Kupihea, Kapa'a

• Rice grains — "Minoru hodo kashira wa/hikuki inaho kana." "The fuller the rice grain, the lower it hangs." (He who is blessed with richness should be humble.) — Ruth Iwata, Hilo

• "Atama sage te." — Memories of a father who always kept a rice plant growing in a pot of water, to remind him to live, "with bowed head." — Ruth Fumiko Tanji Ogata, Kane'ohe

• "Ba-chan" — "She always gave me/ best part of musubi; rice/ stained pink by ume." — Robyn Moriyama, Honolulu

• The rhythmic "pettan, pettan" of the mochi pounder thudding against the lava rock mortar, a vibration felt through the whole body, experienced here in the Islands by Japan immigrant Mariko Nakade-Marceau years after her family had begun making mochi by modern means.

• Rice kites — newspaper comics pasted to thin strips of balsa, with a rice-water glue. Kites today don't fly as well; "must have been the rice." — Marlene Honma, who grew up in Hilo

• Why not potatoes — "the problem is this:/gravy runs along the surface/ like rivulets off the hood of a truck./ It doesn't saturate the grain/ the way salt water ripens/ the perfect sand ball — soaked and heavy/ ready to launch at your little bro" — Tracee Lee, Los Angeles

• Brown rice — the "Queen of Nutrition" decrees no more white rice and a family rebels. — Nina Pang, Waipahu

• Washing rice — a meditation, a memory of mother, "palm on the rice like touching the face of a baby on a rainy day" — Suiki Chu, Honolulu

• The kama — the heavy, cast-iron rice pot set on the wood-fire stove and topped with a round wooden lid, tended by the children so carefully, lest the rice burn. — Recalled by Eleanor U. Hirano, Hilo

• Gnung jook — crunchy rice from the bottom of the pot, served with the oily sauce from hom yu, salty dried fish — Nancy Usui, Kane'ohe

• Haole ume — a malihini mom tries to quell her daughter's bento envy, rolling a dainty rice ball ... stuffed with a maraschino cherry. — Linda Green, via e-mail

• How to get a beautiful husband (or wife) — clean your rice bowl every time. — Henry H.C. Lau, Honolulu

• Ready to marry? — only when your rice, cooked on the stove the old-fashioned way, turns out right every time. — Edna Esona, who grew up in Kealia Camp, Kaua'i

• Chinese custom — always have two servings and your rice bowl will always be full. — Lucille Choy, Honolulu

• Forgetting the rice — The roasted goat, the kaldereta, kilawun, napapaitan and pancit are all ready when — "AAAAH! Awan met ti inapoy!" — Mom discovers that nobody turned on the rice cooker. Everyone waits, stomachs growling. — Ruel Cachero, Honolulu