The Argument
by Maryann
My words buck at such a structure
I argue, fight with myself.
I read and read the examples,
pull out pen and paper. Yet
I cannot write a villanelle.
Mere doodles end up on the page
Where words should appear and flow
I argue, fight with myself.
I feel backed into a corner.
I cannot run and hide. Yet
even with the pressure,
I cannot write a villanelle.
So I shall put my arguments
down, and hope this will suffice.
I cannot write a villanelle
And tire of arguing, fighting with myself.
This poem was published in the Hawaiʻi Review Editor's Blog as part of an e-chapbook entitled WHEA YOU FROM…WHEA YOU GOING, which was produced by the residents of TJ Mahoney & Associates, a community reentry program in Honolulu.
Maryann was born in Phoenix, Arizona--a child of the desert now transplanted in paradise. She is from years behind razor wire with few outlets of expression, save for writing. She is a resident at Ka Hale Hōala Hou No Nā Wahine, a residential facility for women making the successful transition from prison back to our communities. Her dream is to continue sharing her thoughts and stories, and to reach far and wide.
Birthday
by Sue Cowing
A poem is a baby slowly forming
in the fluid inner world:
toes out of nowhere,
eyelashes out of heartbeat.
Like a dolphin, born tail-first
so it won’t drown
in a world of water.
Then someone, is it the mother?
nudges it to the surface, crooning
breathe now, breathe.
[gn_divider]
Kōnane
by Sue Cowing
At Kaʻena, fire and waterline up their stones
dull black lavaround white coral
for the island’s oldest kōnane gamemoves so slow
the stones are all we see.
Sue Cowing is a local author active in the Hawaiʻi literary community. Her latest work is a middle-grade novel You Will Call Me Drog. Birthday was originally published in Bamboo Ridge.
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