Kealoha is the founder of HawaiiSlam, Youth Speaks Hawai‘i (twice international champions) and First Thursdays (the largest registered poetry slam in the world). Kealoha was featured on HBO’s Brave New Voices series presented by Russell Simmons. He has featured at major venues throughout the world, including the Schiffbau (Zurich, Switzerland), the Bienal do Ibirapuera (São Paulo, Brazil) and the 2007 NFL Pro Bowl half-time show. He is the poetic vocalist for Henry Kapono’s Wild Hawaiian project (nominated for a Grammy), and has served as Hawai‘i’s SlamMaster since 2003. Kealoha graduated with honors from MIT with a degree in nuclear physics, served as a business consultant in San Francisco and played around as a surf instructor prior to becoming a professional poet. Visit www.KealohaPoetry.com for more information.
Remember the days when we used to play
On the playground every day?
What was that thing we took?
Recess!!
Yeah that’s right, recess …
15 minutes of sheer madness
Getting down with all of your friends until the bell sounded
That inevitable bell
That wrought the well of time dry
And I
Remember those times so vividly
Licking Jell-O instant pudding
Off of our hands
Making forts out of sand
And doing everything you can to just play
When’s the last time you took 15 minutes out of your day
To just run around and play?
We used to do this every day
It was a staple of our existence
And those days are now dissonant
But if you close your eyes you can remember it those 15 minutes that now seem trivial
But when you were a kid 15 minutes was ephemeral everlasting
It was a fleeting moment
But it was so freaking real
15 minutes was enough time to swing your brains out
Make a movie out of clouds
It was enough to climb in and out and around the monkey bars 5 times
It was enough time to join a game of 4 squares and make it up to king
Or fling red rubber spheres at each other in a game of dodgeball with 3 teams
weaving in and out of rotation
It was enough for 2 friends to run up and down hills holding hands singing ridiculous bits
It was enough time to get 1 kick in a game of kickball
and really that’s all you ever needed was one kick to show everybody what’s up
and I never had the power to crank it long like Andrew Leong
over the fence
hence a home run
but I could always get on base and tease
my opposition into going for a squeeze play
and I would escape easily
obtaining that extra base
with a facial disgracial, right?
When’s the last time you grabbed your friends and played a game of kickball?
When’s the last time you approached someone eating raw ramen
all crushed up inside the bag with the powder sprinkled all over it,
stuck out your hand and said those two magic words … ‘I like’
When’s the last time you just called someone and said ‘let’s ride bikes’
When’s the last time you grabbed a carrot when you were in your bibadeez
and sang into it like a mic
not an ‘MIC steady rhyming to the beats
keeping yo’ heads bobbing cuz my styles is deep’
but I’m talking about grabbing a freaking carrot
and singing some Lionel Richie or some bit like that …
‘All night long! All night!
All night long! All night!
Tom bo li de say de moi ya … hey Jambo Jumbo …’
We didn’t even know what that stuff meant
But it sounded brilliant
The equivalent of Mozart in our modern day
It captivated the imaginations of our youth
And now I get obtuse stares when I be singing at the top of my lungs while driving alone …
People hear me out
Why are we striving so hard to grow up?
Why do we now in our free time call each other to go out and eat?
When did sitting down at a restaurant and eating a meal ever replace
creativity and the expression of the free spirit?
That stuff is so sterile to me
And I don’t deal well with sterility
When did going out to dinner ever become an activity?
Sitting across the table from your friends and family
Breeds familiarity
But this type of formality is just too plain for me can’t you see
Remember how it used to be?
The fantasies that speed through my brain
Are entertained by visions from long ago when we used to potluck on the beach
Yeah we’d eat, but then we’d teach each other how to flip, slide, ride, or fly
We could have done anything
It didn’t matter it was engaging
It was entertaining
We were learning how to be active and creative together
Remember?
And now I see
The masses of our generations falling
Into the trap of daily routine
That unceasing monotony plaguing our society
Resisting
You see I don’t deal well with monotony
When did watching TV ever become an activity?
Letting time pass performing passive viewing
Watching someone else do something we’re not actually doing
Recessing through the eyes of someone else’s 15 minutes of fame
When we could be out living our own 15 minutes of game …
Remember the days when we used to play
On the playground every day?
What was that thing we took?
Recess …