Alohi

Alohi Ae'a is one of those friends who, though I rarely have contact with her, will always be close to my heart. She has taught me so much by who she is--she's not scared to talk about any aspect of life, or to work through it in words. I have rarely met such courageous honesty and such a ruthless pursuit of the real.

Recently I've been thinking about a certain poem she wrote back when we were in college. Last year she had two poems published in 'Oiwi: a native Hawaiian journal. It's more of an anthology, than a journal, really. I'm enormously proud of her. Someday I'll be known as "Annie: who was once in a creative writing class with Alohi Ae'a."

This poem, also written in the college days, is about a mutual friend of ours. Maybe I like it just because I know who it's about? Maybe not.