A raw and lyrical poetic memoir, Ulu captures with haunting vivacity the world of Hōnaunau, Hawaiʻi in the 1970s and 80s: the humanity and hunger of its unforgettable villagers, who “seed and feed and breed in the dark,” the sensual coming-of-age of the poet narrator, who, with his keen eye, and desire to protect and heal, “honors, recollects, and chronicles both the troubled and the healing moʻolelo of his ‘āina.”
In Ulu, Kai weaves together themes of “broken family, queer exploration, and aching love of land and culture,” creating a timeless work of art that has received praise from some of Hawaiʻi and Oceania’s most beloved and well-respected poets and authors.
“Enter us Kai māhū, with your māhū poems, word by word, with your healing māhū, with your pain keiki māhū, with all the pain of your ulu, the glory of your ulu, all the savage grace of your ulu, the flowers and filth of your ulu, the laws broken and the laws made of your ulu māhū, enter us and sing māhū, ka ulu māhū, hoʻoulu mai.”
Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, “Read Your Way Around Hawaii” (New York Times Books)
“With captivating, sensual imagery, Gaspar immerses readers in his native village of Hōnaunau, weaving together themes of queerness, desire, protection and possession with the abiding spirit of aloha ʻāina (love of the land). His poems will shatter your misconceptions of Hawaii as a tourist destination and introduce you to the realities of a powerful and proud people.”
Brandy Nālani McDougall, “5 Books Local Authors Couldn’t Get Enough of in 2023” (Honolulu Magazine)
“What Gaspar offers here is a profound story of the deep and possessive mana of Hōnaunau, of a young māhū growing and earning the knowledge of healing and ‘āina, and how we can all become pu‘uhonua—beautiful, compassionate and strong, not only in spite of whatever we survive, but also because of it.”
About the Author
Kai Gaspar is a Kanaka ‘Ōiwi poet and teacher whose works have been published in Mauri Ola Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English / Whetu Moana II, Tinfish, Yellow Medicine Review, Hawai‘i Review, and elsewhere.
Ulu is Kai’s full-length debut.
Kai is from Hōnaunau.
Upcoming events
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West Coast Book Launch
8.26
Depoe Bay
Private Event
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Oʻahu Book Launch
10.8
2:00-4:00 PM
Native Books
1164 Nuʻuanu Avenue
Chinatown Historic Arts District
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University of Hawaiʻi-West Oʻahu Reading
10.10
2:00-3:00 PM
UHWO Library, ʻUluʻulu Event Space
“A magnificent addition to the body of poetry written by Kai’s people.”
“A deft imagist, Gaspar immerses you in the raw surreality of an ‘āina that is at once ancestral and familiar, where the supernatural is natural and darkness provides safety…”