Richard Hamasaki
Death Poem of the Koʻa
We die slowly — interconnected entities —
bleaching in our struggle to retain equilibrium,
sickness wrought by humanity and your emissions.
Our surface pivoting white, deathly beautiful,
decolorized souvenirs in beachfront gift shops,
our polyps cannot restore sustenance.
Invasive algae implanting itself
upon our once pristine membranes,
vibrant polyps that build and inhabit our skeletal structures.
The cancer grows, first like pinpricks,
miniscule dark spots emerge,
invasive seaweeds proliferating.
Our souls cry out, our pain sensate,
our collective selves succumbing piecemeal,
insufferable afflictions, this silent slaughtering
below the surface of the sea.
Like compliant apathy,
like complicit graveyard quietude
like silent bombs falling
and this, our stony adieux.
This Is Not Our Wasteland
This is not the Wasteland
never was and will never be
Rich man’s hunger for extravagance
it’s not for you or me.
This is not our Wasteland
or a place for games of war
This is the multitudinous sea
misunderstood and ignored.
This is not the Wasteland
or a paradise of sand
This is our sea of islands
to embrace and understand.
This not our Wasteland
it's where life begins then ends
The reef supports the living
and reveals monuments of the dead.
This is not the Wasteland
that awaits you and me
This is not the tourist view
below the surface of the sea.
This is not our Wasteland
let it heal in every way
Countless waves surge endlessly
and wash away disharmony.
This is not the Wasteland
never was and will never be
This is not our Wasteland
it calls to you and me.
Richard Hamasaki is a poet and independent filmmaker & producer. He has been active in Hawai‘i’s literary and arts community for over 50 years, collaborating with creatives locally, regionally, and internationally. In 1976, he independently published seven issues of Seaweeds and Constructions, an art and literary magazine ending its run after the tragic death of his friend, mentor, and co-editor Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947-1984). After 40 years of teaching language arts in Hawaiʻi, Richard resumed producing and directing mostly poetry based films. In 2024, Richard gifted Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum his extensive Hawaiʻi/Pacific library along with his and his brother Mark Hamasaki’s silkscreens, printed matter, selected photographs, and more, from their ʻElepaio Press collective and archive. His poem “Love Song for the Pristine Sea” will be published this year in The Hopkins Review, guest edited by R. Zamora Linmark. Richard’s most recent film MANIFESTO [for Concrete Poetry] features the late Wayne Kaumualii Westlake’s 3-page poem that screened at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival and the Micheaux Film Festival in L.A. in October 2024 and will screen again in June 2025 at Gray Area in San Francisco and at the Crocker Museum in Sacramento. Richard Hamasaki identifies as Sansei, grandchild of Japanese immigrants to the U.S. continent and the occupied Hawaiian Islands.
