C - Pidgin Eye

C - Pidgin EyeJoe Balaz Softcover, 279 pp. Pidgin Eye features thirty five years of poetry by acclaimed author Joe Balaz. Writing in Pidgin (Hawaii Creole English), he honors the beauty, strength, and complexity of Hawaii and the voices of its peoples. Balazs philosophical lyricism tightly weaves history and humor, aloha ina and protest, the spiritual and the everyday. Together, these poems envision a world in whichlike Pidgineveryting deserves to fly. Joe Balaz,

When he breaks a promise

so timid in nature and no one knew why

An introductory essay about the publishing history of the first edition includes portions of early drafts of the manuscript deemed too inflammatory to include by the publisher

The 2015 version has been edited to include Hawaiian diacritical marks as well as the addition of more supplemental information including the more well known descendants of Kamehameha I

frankincense

Struggling with what they don’t know about themselves and one another

with its fortified refuge caves

In the book

How do we cope

frigate birds

A step-by-step guide to growing nutritious

It provides us with this fascinating review of traditional Hawaiian life