Autumn Lullaby
POETRY FORMAT, 5 May 2025
Puanani Burgess – TRANSCEND Media Service
In her hand she held,
a green leaf from her Tutu’s kukui nut tree.
It was large and familiar.
Once, it was a hat, Once a fan,
Once a plate,
And once it was a boat,
floating her to worlds beyond Maʻili stream.
She pressed it to her nose and smelled roasted kukui kernels mixed with the Kai,
the paʻa kai, the iʻa.
She held it up
and saw in that mirror
the green-life that was part of her.
And she began to sing.
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Puanani Burgess (1947 -2024) was a poet, priest, aunty, and friend to many. She was a community activist in the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement for over fifty years. As the designer and facilitator for Building the Beloved Community – a process that brings ceremony, storytelling, and circles of trust and respect – Aunty Pua shared Native Hawaiian practices throughout the world to bring healing and reconciliation. She served as the Myles and Zilphia Horton Chair for the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee and as a community scholar in residence at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai’i. Aunty Pua was an ordained Zen Buddhist priest in the International Daihonzan Chozen-ji.
“You want to make a difference? Then start by looking within.” – Aunty Puanani Burgess
Tags: Hawaii, Poetry, Puanani Burgess
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 5 May 2025.
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