Posted on: Sunday, May 29, 2005
A mostly intellectual flirtation
Editor's note: This week, we inaugurate Poetry in Island Life, a monthly feature that showcases Island poetry, mirroring the Poetry in American Life feature prepared each week by U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser.
By Jeanne Kawelolani Kinney
In this poem about intellectual attraction that flirts with attraction of another kind, Hilo poet Jeanne Kawelolani Kinney plays on a hackneyed phrase, giving the familiar line new life. It is always intriguing when a poet writes about poetry-making; like a dragon curling around itself tail to mouth, the art of writing nurtures the understanding of writing. For the provocative sequel to this poem, check 'Oiwi, A Native Hawaiian Journal. Call 956-3031 or write to oiwi@hawaii.edu. Web site: www.hawaii.edu/oiwi.
To Li-Young Lee, with Apologies to His Wife
By Jeanne Kawelolani Kinney
We must stop meeting like this
between left and right margins
the only sheets we'll know,
this burning aftertaste of paper;
in this room, you said,
we create inside ourselves, but
We must stop meeting like this,
what will everyone think, these
loose adjectives, violent nuances, if
I say tigers, jasmine, champagne
it's enough to do just that, but
We must stop meeting like this,
where words are more dance
than space, syllables become drums,
we beat for even measure, for
that shy pleasurable glance, no
We must stop meeting like this.
Reprinted by permission of the author. The poem first appeared in Oiwi, A Native Hawaiian Journal (Kuleana 'Oiwi Press, 2003).
This column does not accept unsolicited poems and considers only poems that have been previously published in an independent anthology or collection.
