“Poi-ku” by Brandy Nālani McDougall

Author Questions:

  • What is the effect of serializing the haiku form? Do the images/meanings deepen with each successive Poi-ku? Or does each successive haiku stand on its own, perhaps even erasing the one before it?
  • Would the overall meaning of the Poi-ku series change if the order changed? If so, how?
  • What do the Poi-ku, in both form and content, express about the role of poi within Hawaiian culture?

1

Light stirred into earth.
Wai stirred into pa‘i‘ai.
Huli replanted.

2

The mākua share.
The keiki have their own bowls.
No fish in the poi.

3

Nothing in the poi
but poi, and kahi the sides
of the bowl, when pau.

4

Ke‘ala’s forehead
after Christmas dinner: how
did poi get up there?

5

Early memory: Poi
dries around your mouth like skin,
like it always was.

© 2011 by Brandy Nālani McDougall

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Published:
03/03/2011 / 12:20 pm
Category:
Poetry
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