Tuesday 7 February 2012

missing hawai'i...

the radical act of sleeping


i. a kapa blanket

of all the unfolding and gentle handling
in this archive room
the most surprising sheets
were tapa – kapa – an expanse of beaten fibre
sewn to a stretch of red cotton
patterns pounded into kapa still visible on the cotton as well
layers of kapa for insulation in between:
under which a Hawaiian family slept almost 200 years ago
a paperbark Eskimo pie

ii. a flag blanket

families gifted quilts to children
rows of Hawaiian flags arching across the roof
one end of a long dormroom to the other
a double pattern of love and allegiance:
for a kingdom
and a school-bound boy

iii. perhaps this is the radical act

the sovereignty
the activism:
to keep our children safe
as they sleep


No comments:

Post a Comment