Behold Kaua'i
Modern Days - Ancient Ways
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The island of Kaua`i, most ancient of the seven inhabited Hawaiian islands, is the highland of a sea mount that reaches to over 5000 feet at the summit of Mount Wai`ale`ale (Rippling Water) and plummets to the depth of the sea floor. Kaua`i is joined undersea to her little-sister island, Ni`ihau, by the same volcanic action that over eons vented from this cloud-topped "mother mountain."
Though admittedly small--approximately 35 miles by 30 in width and breadth--and located at least 2400 miles from anywhere but other Hawaiian islands, Kaua`i exists as a small continent in the tropic world. Above all this natural splendor and dramatic scenery cut by wind and wave and water, the dormant Mount Wai`ale`ale reigns. Kaua`i people still offer the old-style aloha and welcome to her shores. This book through its collection of poems follows the way of Hawaiian chant in giving life to diverse feelings and recording events and experiences through the medium of "The Word." Some poems center upon the sacred and sublime; others vibrate with human concerns such as life and death, love and loss. The collection extolls the light and dark sides of the island’s personality to keep "paradise" realistic. Behold Kaua`i, Modern Days ~ Ancient Ways melds ancient knowledge and lore with modern occurrence and insight.
This earth is alive, we may forget until She stretches breathes, dances wild and ecstatic from island toes to grassy plateau hips and breasts of ancient sea beds buttoned with corals and shells to undergarments of basalt, granite, schist. . . . . .within Her ancient flow and turn, moon upon moon upon moon back to our forgotten origin, back to the beginning. --excerpt, "Earth Goddess"
C. 2003
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
This book invites you to an island described by many as paradise. Behold Kaua`i is designed to bring you lasting enjoyment and insight through the poet’s eyes, and a sense of this far-flung and ancient island in modern times and from a Hawaiian cultural and historical perspective.
Behold Kaua`i is not meant to be read in one sitting, but savored as one savors and enjoys a special friend or lover, or a favorite place in which to dream and renew. As with a best friend or love who remains constant and vital, it is hoped that your initial encounter and many return engagements deepen and intensify your experience with this collection of sensitive and sensuous poems and descriptive notes.
About the Author
Dawn Fraser Kawahara has freelanced magazine and newspaper features and has written prize-winning short and long fiction as well as poems. She authored Jackals’ Wedding, A Memoir of a Childhood in British India, a winner in the Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Books Competition 2004, Life Stories category. She won the James Vaughan Poetry Prize 2002, Hawai`i Pacific University, and has received numerous awards from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS). Her poem, "The kaleidoscope you gave me from the Museum of Art. . ." won second in the nation (out of 475 entries) and publication in the coveted NFSPS 2009 Annual Contest, "Founders Award." You may check out her most recent win, a true story, "In the Eye of a Fish" at www.kauaibackstory.com (Nov. 2012). Dawn is the founder/owner of TropicBird Press, Wailua, Kaua`i; she has served as Poet-in-the-Schools—Kaua`i and is the originator and curator of the annual Garden Island Arts Council Poetry Fest. She is an ongoing student of ancient hula, its chants and sacred dance with Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai`i Nei Institute, and a board member of the Institute. The author presents readings and workshops based on the unwritten literature of Hawai`i and multiple subjects nationally and internationally.