The Simple Voice

Happy St. Valentine’s Day World!!!

Or Single Awareness Day or Corporate Holiday or all of the above depending on where you fall in the spectrum relating to February 14th, 2009.

In my opinion, love people all the time, celebrate your love with your Signif. always. But if you do have a special someone or plural(eh, I don’t know, some people got mad love to give, who am I to judge), I hope you’re out there having an extra sense of celebratory joy going on today.  I’ll leave it short and sweet at that though as a poet…

“I must say that love a love ever so sweet, one that is purest in the moment, a moment, which if I could prolong, I would, for even though life is but one long day, the passing moments since the moment our eyes last danced seems to me an eternity…”

If only you could go Pro at being a poet.  I always wanted to go Pro but that’s a different story and sport…

Here’s some random facts of February 14th, that you may or may not know:

~It’s in February.  Since the adoption of this calendar cycle, February, and all other months have incorporated a 14th day into the equation.  Who would’ve figured?

~Named after two martyred dudes(Saints) named Valentine.

~Valentine’s were originally hand-written notes expressing love between two(or more, we don’t know how they did back in the day) lovers.

~The day became associated with romantic love the time of Chaucer, when courtly love began to flourish.  I can hear all the guy’s right now, “Chaucer, dat buggah…”

~The U.S. Greeting Card Association reports that St. V’s Day is second in greeting card holidays behind none other than Christmas.  I bet Cupid is shaking his fist as his arrow seemed to miss on that one.

~The U.S. Greeting Card Association also reports that men spend twice as much on Valentine’s Day then women.  Hmm….

Again, spread the Aloha today.  Have fun, and if you can’t do it 24/7 then, well, you got probs in my opinion,nah, nah, it’s hard, but gotta keep striving.

But, in closing, with my Joe Moore moment:

Finally, did you know, in the UK, they celebrate St. Dwynwen’s Day on January 25th.  That’s right, now you can celebrate your love in January and February and in Brazil, they have Dia dos Namorados, Day of the Enamored, in June, and in Finland, and in Korea…

Ho, I see a pattern, special love days around the world, maybe, just maybe, it really is possible to celebrate a day of love each and every day.  And if it’s not, it’s only a matter of time before you see cards for St. Dwynwen’s at Hallmark.

Shoots.

We all know the guy who likes to embellish their stories no matter if you were there and you saw first hand kine and you must have grown up in the wilderness without talking to another soul if you never heard the “I caught a fish this big” blah-buh-be-blah-blah-blah story.

“Fishing Tales” with Mike Sakamoto wasn’t lidat cause Mike was the real deal.

I remember being a kid and looking up to the people I saw on TV, especially the local ones.  Coming from a small, isolated place in the middle of the ocean, it was like they made it you know?  And not only did they make it, but they were good people who gave to Hawaii too.   So it was a huge honor and a day filled with alot of excitement when I met Mike Sakamoto and he signed my Fishing Tales shirt.  I wouldn’t get rid of that shirt because it was signed(in fact, it may still be in a drawer back home in Hilo, nearly two decades later).

Keep in mind this came after I got an autograph from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, part-time Kauai resident, after a four hour wait.  Was way more exciting meeting Mike cause he was one cool buggah and Kareem, Mr. NBA All-Star, was more like drinking tepid water, just not cool enough.

While we can all think about the things that drive us crazy about life in Hawaii, when you grow up here or relate to the “essence” of life in Hawaii, there is still so much more about it that brings out that special “da kine da kine” that you just can’t put your finger on because of how it binds us together through the good and the not-so.

Kids now are growing up with BJ Penn, Augie T, LOST, oh and get that guy who wen go Punahou who’s moving into the White House.  Get him too…

BUT, when I was a kid it was Mike Sakamoto, Frank Delima, Sid Fernandez, when my brother was growing up it was Rap Replinger, Hawaii 5-0.  And honestly, not so long ago it was Duke Kahanamoku in the Olympics…

The list can go on and on of people who Hawaii rallies around.  You know why I think that is?  It’s cause all of them did something and contributed not only to their field but to Hawaii and our people.  In a day and age, where individualism runs rampant, Hawaii and many of our people just get that.  Some call it Aloha, others call it mana.  I don’t know what to call it anymore because I think it’s something that’s greater than us and hope will spread across the world in the years to come.  It’s only a matter of time, try look at the speculation about President-Elect Obama and his Hawaii roots playing into who he is.

So yeah Hawaii, while we have some issues, everyone and everywhere has subscriptions of their own, it’s just a part of life.  What we get more of is, this, this Aloha coming alive in people like Mike Sakamoto, who put their love, their passion, and gave the world something special and that “da kine da kine” you just can’t put a finger on it feeling that words don’t do any justice too.

Hawaii, the world, lost one of its ambassadors in the sport of fishing, an ambassador of aloha, and a family lost a loved one too soon.  While inevitable, death is one of those things that is hard no matter what.  In the last few years, I’ve seen too many go early.  Makes the memories that much more important.

Mike, while I didn’t know you too well, I’ll never forget you: on the TV in my living room, feeling like I was like you when I caught my first fish while trolling off the Kona coast, and I neva going forget how you was that cool bradah shaking my hand and signing my t-shirt when I was still one small keed.

Thanks for the memories brah.  You will be missed.

My heart and best wishes goes out to your ohana.

I fear writing poetry at times
For my English and Grammar
Have been taught by life
And it’s just as easy, sometimes,
Much more preferable
To write ‘this’ lidat
Yet when I sit
Pen in hand
Or keys kissing fingertips
I am able to flow as I unfold
And detach from my conscious
Know-it-all and
The fear at times
Of writing poetry, and living life,
Just flies away

Ho, wen I was moa young
I loved to fish
Bra was so mean
Every time I wen go fish
Was wit my Fadah
Some good memories dat

You wot time I remembah most?
Was wen had me, My Dad and my Bradah
We neva catch nothing dat time
But was Fadah and Sons
And well, not too much memories is better dan dat

Nowadays, I fish alone
Not cause I no like fish wit dem
But my Fadah, he on one other island
And my Bradah, he always get work
Das okay, I still remembah

And well, the fishing I do
Is moa like life fishing
I stay casting here and there
Fo’ different opportunities
Den see watch the tide brings my way

Still kinda like small keed time
When was me and my Dad
Only thing it’s like trust in Above

eh, call me crazy
but every time i go look at
one tree
i think
self, try look da leaves
no look like dey waving
no remind you of one happy dog
waiting to say Hi

eh, call me crazy
but i smile at dat
i say hello word
i high-five da trees
i might even hug
(but no call me one hippy you buggah!)
eh, call me crazy
but i notice that wen i talk stories
wit da trees
dey talk back
da world no talk like us
nature talk different
but if you “listen”
you goin see

eh, call me crazy
but dat leave das falling on you
wen no moa wind and
your head stay high up your ass
just might be da tree saying
eh, howzit

My fren,
ho brah,
she go tell me
she excited cause she
get to take one class from one activist
dat going help her with her research
I stoked for her

My fren
ho brah,
she go tell me
how she asked to sit in
she say she wen tell da activist
i know i’m white but…
da rest of da words
I hear um
but I not so stoked
it all kind of fades

Me,
ho brah,
I tell my fren
how come you had fo say dat
wen da activist is half-white
wasn’t even born in hawaii
not one keiki o ka aina…

Me,
ho brah
I used to tell people
how mad all dat make me
eh, I goin honor dat i neva goin like
da inequality of life
but I no need fill my heart with hate
get enough people lidat
no need me fo join dea crew

Me,
ho brah,
I going tell my kids
no let da ignorance
of others
of history
get in the way
of your dreams
of being you
cause das how
das wot’s important
it no mattah what color you
no mattah wea you stay from
no mattah how many times
people tell you oddawise
just know
wot mattah stay insai

I wen go check out dis spring

Dat stay by da house wea I wen grow up in

 

I wen hea about um ova da years

How was no moa one spring

Cause wen dry up, like the earth was pau geev um to us

 

Ho sad I came, wen I wen look at um

Da buggah used to bubble up so full of life

Now was moa like looking inside da bottom of an empty pot

 

I sat on da now dead grass

Da no moa grass

Just da land…

 

I wen close my eyes and smile

Cause even though neva had da spring

Even though was pau, I wen still feel um, da mana

 

I took one deep breathe and held um in

Felt myself dive beneath da cool fresh watah

I let out my breath slowly

 

I opened my mind`s eye

And fo one moa time

I saw as clear as day da spring, full as it was

 

Even though gone, da buggah

Live on in me

Das how sometimes, das how

 

Wen was time fo go

I leaned ova da dry land the tears falling now

No could hold um in

 

I wen whisper:

I neva goin forget you my friend

I always going rememba…

 

Mahalo…

 

This just in.  A spring in Waiakea Uka, long thought to have dried up began to flow again.  Local residents report the spring dried up well over a decade ago.  Who would have thought?

 

And now in Sports…

I’ve seen your smile for years now
I recall the first time
I wen spock you
My mind no could
Comprehend
Such
Beauty

I remember the day I met you
Eyes merged in the briefest of moment
Yet I’ve come to the conclusion
That a moment
Where the soul
Recognizes it’s match
Is an eternity compared
To a lifetime
Of no moments

It’s been years since
I’ve seen you
Yet still
I see you
If that makes sense
You’ve come in my dreams
You are teaching
I only hope
That I can give you
A love that is the same

My moment
My eternity
My smile

I used to tink
Brah, F*** change!
I like how my life is.
No need do anything different.
I’m comfortable.
Isn’t dat it?
Isn’t dat life/

I started to tink one day
Ho would be nice if I could change
Change dis, change dat
Change, Brah, just Change.
But I neva knew how
Neva knew wot.

Now, ho killah!
Change is da bomb.
I wen realize dat
I am change
Every second of muh life
And you know wot?
I no need search for here or how
I just gotta feel and trust
And go and adapt and
Expand
Not in da waistline
Though dat could happen
But expand my awareness uh.

Yeah, das wot I tink about change right now.

So I was walking uh
Wen all of a sudden
Splat!!!
I wen get shit on by one bird
Da buggah stay up in da tree laughing
I neva get mad
In fact, I wen ingeniously figah a way
Fo clean my shirt since I neva had one nother one
Why I even getting all
Sensitismal ova bird shit
So wot, uh?
Cause da kine
I no shit you
Had one guy get bombed by one bird too
Like ten minutes earlier kind
And I went tink
‘Self, you lucky cause dat neva happen long time.
And wow, da guy is smiling, how cool is dat?’
So da moral of said story
Goin get shit on, gotta keep smiling
And, guess wot?
Da birds are listening…