Watching the Bay Go Away
I’m sitting on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time
—Otis Redding, Stephen Lee Cropper
Watching Maleakahana waves
roll in and out
T’inking ‘bout life, death,
culture, genocide.
About final days of Fumi Auntie,
Sam, and the Mariners;
And da Polynesians
of interest to UH(awai‘i),
PAC 12 and da SEC.
Odda stuff too:
Like American culture:
Discover, develop/take out,
no need replenish,
but “added value” needed;
Buy low, sell high…
Like anyt’ing, everyt’ing;
Use’em, den trow ‘em away.
Make lan’ & watah like one toilet,
the sky like one dusty bowl dat
nomo’ boundaries.
Like rising tides in Hawai‘i
Big trouble when saltwater
get inside aquifers,
Get times can see rising tides
in Waikiki & Hilo covah da beach.
Like rising towahs of condos
fo’ tourists fo’ stay’
while next to ‘em, get people
dat sleep in tents,
on da beach, in pahks,
on da sidewalks, in malls.
Hard fo’ take.
What to do?
Stay too easy fo’ blame all dis
on Imperialism
and Greed
and White Supremacy.
And too easy fo’ say
“too bad, dat’s progress, dat’s life.”
‘Cause at’s not progress, at’s not life.
Kill land/watah, bury culture?
Dat genocide.
Mo’ bettah respond before dat happen.
We need listen
to da ocean and da waves.
We need hear Mother Earth
call fo’ action.
At’s what I t’inking about
Watching the tide roll in
and out.
Catch a Breath, Keep on moving.