~ Pua Sandabar ~



Click or scroll for Pua's poems:

Minahasa Melody

Mile-marker twenty seven: renewal

Kolea lay claim to the lawn



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Minahasa Melody


Kolintang. Ting-ting-tang.
Water flows through ancient paddies.
Lotus ring, and lilies sing along.

Light and airy syncopation.
Bass notes played by Lokon mountain
patiently surveying fields below.

Kolintang. Ting-ting-tang.
Rumbling in the distance, Lokon waits.
Dragons guard temple yard.
Buddha smiles upon the valley.
Offer incense and rupiah.
Pacify the molten spirit.
Lokon lingers, thunder in her laugh.

Five a.m. - Church bells ring.
Maybe Jesus will fare better.
Pray to him. Confess your sin.
Beg for him to calm the mountain.
Lokon belches smoky fumes and ash.

Kolintang. Ting-ting-tang.
Lokon shifts. She's restless, breathing fire.

On your knees now. Face the mountain.
Pray to Allah. He will save you.
Lokon dons her flowing garments.
Crimson dance of death.

Why live in this fertile valley,
in the shadow of a monster?
Is it worth your daily gamble?
Will you pay the final price?

"As our ancestors before us,
we're inspired by this place
at the edge of earth's creation,
in the mountain's warm embrace.
Fathers, uncles, brothers fought here
so that we might farm these lands.
Now, in peace, we work together;
all religions, every race."

Breezy mountain melody.
Fragrant liquid lullaby.
Lokon falls asleep again.
Ting-ting-tang.



© Copyright 2001 Pua Sandabar


Mt. Lokon


*kolingtang -- type of bamboo xylophone


Mt. Lokon Photo courtesy this Travel Site


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Mile-marker twenty-seven: renewal


Red Road. Umbrella philodendron snakes up mango trunks,
shampoo ginger pokes up through the rocks.
Curve right. Nostril-tickling lilikoi droop from vines,
while coquis croak loud love songs from above.

Hard left. Swerve/shift/avoid new split-seams in the well-worn path,
duck as hala aims to snag your hat.
Dip. Slow. Stop, dismount and park beneath the banyan tree,
clamor over nurse-logs tending moss.

Sit. Breathe. While birdnest-ferns bob/twist/cavort in wet hot breeze,
the steam envelops, cleanses, heals your ache.
Slips in. Into every fissure, every wind-whipped crack,
works its water-wonders from within.



© 2002 Copyright Pua Sandabar


lilikoi -- passion-fruit
coqui -- tree frogs
hala -- pandanus


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Kolea lay claim to the lawn

Tundra-chicks fledge to glacier-melt melodies,
caribou rock-yodel, goldpanning jazz.
Jittery parents catch trade winds in August,
abandoning keiki to stave off starvation.
Genetic legends shiver and grow.

Equinox signals start of first-journey.
Three thousand miles of three mile high star-steering.
Magnetic messages swirl in skulls.
Three thousand miles of wave-chasing, current-watch.
Searching for something; something like this.

Swaying on stilts in southern sea salt-showers,
beaks piercing breeze as breakfast creeps by.
Autumn-attire: Flightfrazzle rufflemess.
Neck-`n-neck nomads relax and regroup.

Just as the paddlers of old Hava'iki
scanned sky for secrets, read red-cloud warnings;
just as their counterparts sailed through thunderstorms,
Kolea navigate; find a new home.



© Copyright 2001 Pua Sandabar



Click here for Kolea bird photo



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Background photos courtesy of Honolulu Community College



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