With Apologies to Kala’e

Disappeared.

Gone.

Turned to poo-brown

by clowns with “authority.”*

These blues and greens,

such vibrant life,

such beauty

they refuse to see.

Always trying so hard

to erase

so they desecrate

and they deface,

replacing history,

never wanting to leave

so much as a trace

of Kanaka Maoli

for occupying eyes

to see

as they use stolen keys

to uproot rainbow trees

and they paint over paradise

making something so nice 

a dull brown

making you forget the Queen’s crown

making you forget the U.S. Marines

helped tear the Queen’s flag down

making you forget that this ain’t

America as they paint

and they paint

and they paint over laughter

and life

and love

and they shove their greedy paws

and their white

man made laws

and their codes

and their rules

all over this stolen land

where Hawaiian tongues

were long banned

and now there are cops

in schools

putting Hawaiian children 

in handcuffs

and I agree with Aunty Scarlett

that enough is enough

when, instead of getting tough

on corrupt police

and on chemical companies

and on the military

polluting the aquifer,

the land

and the sea

they are using

the taxes on our tea

to deny Hawaiians like Kala’e

the right to just be

free

and to be freely creating beauty

for all eyes to see

while not hurting a flea

much less a tree

the air

the water

or the soil…

If you look at history

honestly

you will see

that since 1893

crimes like these 

are truly

human rights violation

and it should make your blood boil.

*A beautiful work of art recently painted by a Hawaiian woman in a public space on Hawaiian land was painted over by a representative of the government that currently occupies Hawaii. That same government also recently butchered beautifully painted trees out by the airport.

Jayson Mizula