Aina Hanau / Birth Land (Volume 92)

by Brandy Nālani McDougall

‘Āina Hānau / Birth Land is a powerful collection of new poems by Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) poet Brandy Nālani McDougall. ‘Āina hānau—or the land of one’s birth—signifies identity through intimate and familial connections to place and creates a profound bond between the people in a community. McDougall’s poems flow seamlessly between ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i and English, forming rhythms and patterns that impress on the reader a deep understanding of the land. Tracing flows from the mountains to the ocean, from the sky to the earth, and from ancestor to mother to child, these poems are rooted in the rich ancestral and contemporary literature of Hawaiʻi —moʻolelo, moʻokūʻauhau, and mele —honoring Hawaiian ʻāina, culture, language, histories, aesthetics, and futures.

The poems in Āina Hānau / Birth Land cycle through sacred and personal narratives while exposing and fighting ongoing American imperialism, settler colonialism, militarism, and social and environmental injustice to protect the ʻāina and its people. The ongoing environmental crisis in Hawaiʻi, inextricably linked to colonialism and tourism, is captured with stark intensity as McDougall writes, Violence is what we settle for / because we’ve been led to believe / green paper can feed us / more than green land . The experiences of birth, motherhood, miscarriage, and the power of Native Hawaiian traditions and self-advocacy in an often dismissive medical system is powerfully narrated by the speaker of the titular poem, written for McDougall’s daughters.

‘Āina Hānau reflects on what it means to be from and belong to an ʻāina hānau, as well as what it means to be an ‘āina hānau, as all mothers serve as the first birth lands for their children.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

Published June 13, 2023

Reviews

[Celeste Loia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent poetry collection that will make you confront the harsh realities that American imperialism, American militarism, and American tourism have ravaged on Hawai'i. Nālani McDougall weaves Hawai'ian throughout the poems, so keeping Google Translate at hand may be useful (and if my boss or students ask if I just recommended using Google Translate, no, I didn't 🤫).

***fav excerpts and poems***

"as in at the time
of this writing
Hawai'i is the
most expensive
fake state in the
United States"
Real (G)estate (23)

"E) 'American' just means you're
blissfully ignorant of profiting off of
stolen people and stolen land, right?"
College Prep Test for Those Who Will Leave Hawai'i (46)

"This is my American poem
speaking of freedom and freely
speaking, yet rarely saying anything
to set land and people free."
American Poem (49)

Resist (56)

                                   "  ...Stand here,
at the receding edge of Palestine,
as Israel fires U.S. weapons to steal
family homes, whole communities, to build
military outposts, then Israeli settlements.
Stand here, on stolen land, at the edge of
fences, checkpoints, and guard posts.
Stand where international law is broken
without consequences. Stand at the edge
of hotels and mansions, military golf courses
over ancestral graves, adverse possession
and deeds from British and French mandate,
Israeli or American settlement and military
base, from overthrow and annexation,
from population transfer, from refugees
in exile left to wander the ruins hungry."
Kūpikipiki'ō, O'ahu (82)

[Elza · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5🌟

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

[O]ne of my most eagerly awaited poetry titles of 2023[,] McDougall’s propulsive second collection about Hawai‘i’s culture, Kanaka ‘Ōiwi identity, memory, and parenthood gripped me so. Fascinating illustrations by Allison Leialoha Milham foreground each of the four parts. My mind keeps returning to “Symbolism,” “This Island on Which I Love You,” and “Prepositions,” to name only a few poems. If you haven’t already, preorder this breathtaking book for yourself and a friend.

from “10 Essential Poetry Books by AAPI Authors” via BOOK RIOT: https://bookriot.com/must-read-poetry...

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You could write a thesis about each poem in this text; essential and powerful.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply felt collection of poetry about Hawai'i, home (in land and body), colonialism, and connection to place.

"But if it was in my character
to be more courageous,
I would tell you honestly
that a part of me must believe
words can save us if we open
ourselves fully, if we can name
the ones who spoke before us,
and we, unbroken, still
have the breath to speak them."

- from "Character Development" (41)

"Like a paranoid tyrant,
I declare that everything is
everything else and demand
you take notes because I can't
remember a time I didn't think
to look for what was hidden,
(as inevitably, all things are)
to read the signs and be
ready for the thing that has
never just been itself.

I am beginning to suspect
you already know what I
still need to learn: to trust
things to be without bending
their shape, to let go, finally
of what only seems like more."

-from "Symbolism" (43)

[LauraLentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning mix of ancestry, symbolism, and love of the land

Anyone visiting any Hawaiian island without an understanding of Hawaii and what it is to be Hawaiian should read this book. It doesn’t push against history, it reminds us what the U.S. did to Hawaii while showing us the beauty, the bones and the symbolism available to us all for healing. Put your phones down visitors and let the land change you, and this poetry is a wonderful start.

[Holly Trowbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really wonderful book to read. I loved reading about parts of the island I was born and raised on. I also appreciated a lot of the points of view as well. I feel so honored to have read a book by Hawai'i's poet laureate. It feels so meaningful to me.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vivid imagery in this book of Hawaiian poetry.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in intermingling Hawaiian and English, and at once beautiful and devastating, this collection foregrounds the native Hawaiian experience of a land stolen, of place and personhood intertwined.

[Sharvaree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think i get poetry

[Lauren Oertel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful, devastating, and powerful collection this was. I wish every tourist visiting the islands would read this before they travel there. I learned more about the disturbing history and current injustices for Hawaiians, especially at the hands of U.S. government, and I’m glad the author is bringing more exposure to these concerns. And yet, I was also comforted by many of these poems. I loved the deep connections between humans and land explored through a mix of ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i and English phrases. These were some of my favorite lines:

This is my American poem
dropping bombs on islands,
dropping guns for puppet
governments, dropping cans
of carcinogenic meats
for war-torn refugees.

—

This island is alive with love,
its storms, the cough of alchemy
expelling eery parasitic thing,
teaching me to love you with
the intricacies of island knowing

—

We let the waves
carry us in, let
ourselves spill into
light—our islands
unfurling green.