Kahulu
Donovan Kūhiō Colleps
Our kūpuna put feathers
on our words
and the rain beads.
And we glide,
rising and diving,
piercing sea skin.
Marks for mating
signal verb tongues
from beak to beak.
Our kūpuna put feathers
on our words as storms
come, go, linger.
Our feathers scatter
the light and keep
our stories warm.
They harmonize us into the land
with no lines to question
where it ends and we begin.
Our kūpuna put feathers on our words
to remind us how wonderful it is
to ruffle our bodies in the stream.
*
kahulu – (lit., the feather) is also used as a Hawaiian word for adjective.
kūpuna – plural of kupuna, or ancestor.
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Donovan Kūhiō Colleps was born in Honolulu and raised on the ‘Ewa plains of O‘ahu. His family comes from Laupāhoehoe, Hawai‘i and Keanae, Maui. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in creative writing at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.