To Pele, the Woman of Fire
& Amuan U, Diety of Cloud & Rain
who stood on the rim to offer love.
Mist clings to ohias & tree
ferns
The lips of the crater demark
a fine line between water &
fire.
In the form of ferns
is he walking before me in the
mist?
Her hot breath at my heels.
Succulent juice from berries
trickles into my mouth
& I take in a part of her
house
in the form of fire
that surrounds his body.
Indistinct from the fog, this
language
is a fine slurry of saliva &
stone.
We mouth words
and wait to see who will enter
E Pele E
Koahi Oa Lo
lili aina
E Pele E
Over black lava, a rainbow forms
an immutable arc because love is
infinite.
His body becomes her house,
her house, his body—
not things themselves
but temples shedding the same
skin
where orchids bloom in their
wake.
7/84? Volcano HI
But it looks like the first prose was written 8/9-10/84, so I'm moving it to August 15. I must've worked on it at Napa, then put down the wrong date. If I extensively revised a poem, sometimes the creation date suffered. But this seems pretty straightforward.
see prose Kamapua'a and Pele on Kilauea
But it looks like the first prose was written 8/9-10/84, so I'm moving it to August 15. I must've worked on it at Napa, then put down the wrong date. If I extensively revised a poem, sometimes the creation date suffered. But this seems pretty straightforward.
see prose Kamapua'a and Pele on Kilauea
From Napa
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