Author Archives: janishaag

(Lawai, Kauai) I come to wade in the protected poolwhere waves crash on rocks just outside it,marveling at all the forms of life— from the ginormous monk seal parkedlike an oceanic zeppelin on the bigger beachdown the road to hundreds … Continue reading →

5ish a.m. We’re both up,listening to the surf below us,while just outside the early birdsbegin yakking above the whooshof waves. This is not our time of day.I have no idea why we’re awake.He says he’s waiting for sunrise,the day’s first … Continue reading →

And, of all the things that makethis day special, people in Hawaiiwrap themselves and each other,along with statues of important ones,in all manner of floral neckwear. We buy lei for loved ones arrivingthis day—simple ti leaf lei forgood luck and … Continue reading →

(for Briana Martinez and Dick Schmidt,siblings of the heart) Never forget that you’ve been givena second chance— more than once, it turns out—a series of fleeting mercies that whiz by so fast yourarely notice them. But this evening, after dinnerwith … Continue reading →

Ankle deep in the Kalapaki surf,I walk by two pale teenage boyssitting on the sand, one pinkened by sun, his claviclesporting a bone-white circleof puka shells. A few yards later I walk bytwo local boys browned by sunon boogie boards … Continue reading →

(in memory of Dottie SchmidtJune 16, 1949–April 28, 2025) In your passingwe say mahalofor becoming partof our family. We saywhat cannot besaid often enough:We love you. We say,E hoʻomaha me ka maluhia,rest in peace. We saya hui hou,until we meet … Continue reading →

(for Dickie) “Now we’re here,” he likes to sayonce we’ve arrived on island, usually when we step out ofthe forced air of plane and into the thicker breathof green and seastuff. Or sometimes when,as soon as possible, I make my … Continue reading →

(for the dancers of the Merrie Monarch Festival) They look like floating cloudswearing yellow lei, the dozen wahine of He’eia dancingnahe nahe—gently, delicately, as they say in the islandswhere I will fly in the morning, paying tribute to the goddessof … Continue reading →

I mean, really, I wouldn’t be sitting hereon a Saturday morning, having shlepped snacks and promptsand, heaviest of all, me out of bed to sit at one end of this four-tablerectangle and put my fingers to the keyboard earlier than … Continue reading →

Soft kitty cry,I reach out a handtouch the soft, smile, sigh. When he cries, I hearher voice answer him fromher place in the firmament: Maxi, I’m here. This, now, is howshe appears toboth of us. ••• (for Mom)