`Awapuhi
POETRY FORMAT, 12 May 2025
Puanani Burgess – TRANSCEND Media Service
Mama loved the scent
of the wild yellow ginger,
growing thick on the slopes of Tantalus.
In its blooming season,
she would walk up that
steep, curvy road to pick
two or three.
These she would weave
into a brooch, to be
pinned to the inside
of her blouse–hidden,
but for that warm perfume.
On the day she was buried
she wore a lei of wild
yellow ginger, freshly
picked from the slopes of
Tantalus,
And left for me,
in a blue shoe box,
a thousand, neatly-
woven, dry, fragrant
brooches.
I always begin with this poem. It has done the most to teach me the difference between truth and meaning. It’s funny how poets can say their own poems teach them something, but it’s true.
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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: Poetry, Puanani Burgess
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 12 May 2025.
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