Kelani’s Reviews > An Expanse of Blue > Status Update

“It’s not Hawai'i,” Mama says. “But let’s close our eyes
and listen to the water and pretend it is,
just for a little bit.”

“You don’t get a free pass to be a bitch
just because something inside you is broken”
– Kāia Smith

“So, honey girl,
when I pray—
and I do so every day—
I pray to her. Because I don’t know
if God got time for old guys like me.
But one thing I know for sure?
Our ancestors?
They are always with us.”
– Aunty ‘Ehu

I don’t look like it?
I am a descendant of the Earth Grandmother.
Of the Sky Father.
Of the Star Mother.
Of the Kānaka Maoli. The people.
My people.
I am —‘

‘I don’t look like it?
My hair is dark like the starless sky untouched by city lights.
My eyes are green like the speckled backs of slithering mo'o.
My jaw is strong like the rounded edge of a pōhaku pounding poi.
My skin is smooth like pāhoehoe from a hundred-of-years flow.
My hips are full like the moon rising over Mauna Kea.
My feet are tough like ‘opihi stuck to jagged cliff sides.

‘What he doesn’t say,
but his star eyes tell me,

is that it’s not hard
to figure out

when someone was born
of the same sky
of the same sea
of the same people

as you.’

‘Like nimble fingers interlacing thin strips of lauhala,
our voices weave together into something beautiful and intricate,
and it feels like the most honest conversation
we’ve had in a while.’