Kilauea crater rim, Hawaii journal

On the thermal updraft I steam my face, hot rain rises off the crater. The life of a poet is never dull. My work takes me to exotic places. Right now I'm straddling a steam vent, my poncho is a tent. From the rain and the sauna, my poncho is a trap. Steam vents warm the backs of my legs, they are wet—as I write this, while standing on the edge of Kilauea, home of Pele. I should stand naked under this tarp.

On the rim of Kīlauea, the steaming bluff a kanekolea, a crying plover sings a plaintive note. Kamapua'a, a diety of clouds, rainforests, and numerous other body forms, is said to have stood on this cliff while offering his love to Pele, the woman of fire. She insulted him in the battle of fire, forest, and rain began.

Kamapua'a took a fern body, and became a fern forest surrounding Kīlauea and this is why Pele's home, the pit craters on the floor of Kīlauea are called Halemuamu'a (a house surrounded by ama'umu'u fern). The red eye of Halemaʻumaʻu , the crater lava lake, is asleep.

It's like the edge of the crater is a fine line between fire and air, Kamapua'a and Pele still battle. Kīlauea it is her house it surrounds his body. This is as real as the orchids growing on the rim.

There are many places of refuge and we stand beside ourselves searching for something we're not quite sure of and it's always right here in front of us indistinct in the fog. The home of our senses—like a knife to whetstone, a fine slurry of saliva and stone sharpens us.

We mount words in our mouth like ripened raspberries, like blood. Love needs an edge to keep it interesting. Succulent juice trickles down our chins and we are always hungry no matter how many answers there are because that form of reality takes me running across the lip of the crater for no real reason other than because it is there.

8/10, or 11
added 9/17, revised



These journal notes become fodder for
Kamapua'a and Pele on Kilauea and
NOT THINGS THEMSELVES
Hawaii Journal, August 4 -12, 1984
Letters to Pele, Hawaii journal, Volcano
Kamapua'a and Pele on Kilauea
Kilauea crater rim, Hawaii journal
Ke'ie Beach, Hawaii Journal
At the coffee plantation, Hawaii journal
Kona Lagoon, Hawaii journal