Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) was born on Maui and raised on the island of O‘ahu, where he attended Punahou School. He also studied at the University of Oregon and earned his BA in Chinese studies at the University of Hawai‘i. Westlake broke new ground as a poet, translated Taoist classical literature and Japanese haiku and interwove perspectives from his Hawaiian heritage into his writing and art. He published his substantial body of work locally, regionally and internationally and when he died prematurely in 1984 he was at the height of his poetic career. A long-overdue volume of his work, Westlake: Poems by Wayne Kaumualii Westlake, was published by the University of Hawai‘i Press in 2009.
15 years today
since STATEHOOD
it’s raining
i feel like
crying
down on the sidewalk
in waikīkī
I
SEE
EVERYTHING
passing me:
lost souls
girls with nice asses,
businessmen
with dirty assholes
and shiny suits,
bums pimps whores
freaks junkies gigolos
and burnt out Amerikans …
they’re
straight bent
slimy clean
women under the
spell of the MOON
children learning
the GAME too soon
policemen hippies
kahunas (a few)
fat sick Amerikans
and speedy Japanese
studs cunts
rich poor
perverts weirdos
beggars fools
crazy-men
and old people
about to DIE …
they’re all there
i tell you,
man
from my seat
in waikīkī
I SEE EVERYTHING:
this gigantic PIG
PARADE
staggering by …
and across the street
unnoticed,
an old Hawaiian
slowly sweeps
the sidewalk
clean
with a fallen
coconut leaf:
away,
you fools
he whispers,
away!
the bum Hawaiian
came up to me
down on the sidewalk
in waikīkī
put out his hand
said he needed smokes
asked me for
some change
i reached in my pocket
looking for the cash
asked how he was doing
the World these days
so STRANGE –
‘gotta know where
they are first
before they know
where you are’
go home RIGHT NOW!’
paranoid looking around
wanting to leave
i gave my last dollar
to the kahuna of waikīkī
mumbling INSANELY
stumbling down
the crowded street …
waikīkī
with all its people
is still
a lonely place
as rats climb
the coconut trees
the meat
keeps broiling and
fat pigs still
slide out of
cadillacs
OINKING
fingering the slimy
green GOD
of waikīkī:
‘the whores don’t
want your cock, man
they want your
MONEY!’
… as rats climb
the coconut trees
going insane
down on the sidewalk
in waikīkī i
remember the kahuna
how he treated
swatted them away
like flies!
i stumble sad
and lonely
down the crowded
streets
… as rats climb
the coconut trees …
down on the sidewalk
in waikīkī
the old Hawaiian
kept looking
up in the sky
i wondered
why?
what’s he looking
at?
looked up to see
mynah birds frolicking
in coconut
trees
of course!
of course!
how we spose
feel Hawaiian anymoa
barefeet buying smokes
in da seven
eleven stoa … ?