Twenty-One Elegies

who owns the grief of these wings? how does the sky mourn?

in revenge, the crows peck holes in our rising prayers.

in protest, the rain refuses. no, we killed the rain. 

& the catfish. & the mussels. & the flying fox. the white

of our palms a curse we pass by making, wanting. awful

kings, everything we touch we bless out of existence.

what will be alive at the end of us? the ōʻō gone

even the name shocked at its passing. Hawaii, like anything,

dies a little bit every day she’s American.

all that ash in Maui. the birds died of grief. 

the birds, the people, the land, the birds

the people, the land, the birds, the grief,

the grief, the grief, the grief winged & everywhere.

Do you love the world? Why are you not crying?

you are nowhere. your heart is a nothing place.

there is no sky in you. you don’t have birds.

we don’t have birds. we used to be animals.

now the world is lost in us. forgive us, mother.

we have killed you so casually. & to our sisters

the birds, we have no right to favors, but fly by his ear

tell god it’s time again for the rain.