Author Archives: janishaag

My life, like a poem, is small and enormous.—poet Maggie Smith Enormous in that we all contain multitudes,to paraphrase another poet, contradictions, he mentioned, too,as in living while dying, or perhaps it’s the other way around,as I walk in the … Continue reading →

(For the fam—those with us and not, living and not—with love and gratitude.) Back in the day it was my motherwho, with her trusty Kodak, shotthe family pix for every Christmas card—my sister and I posing insome location she liked—until … Continue reading →

(for Mom) When you get where you’re going—and clearly there’s no way to knowwhere that might be, or even if thereis a where—we know that you’ll lookaround and see who you might see. Maybe you’ll have landed in aneternal Sweet … Continue reading →

(Hanalei pier, Hanalei, Kauai) He stands like an old handat this, the slender whip of a rodextended off the end of the pier, a couple of weights keepingthe line taut, and, as we watch,this 10-year-old from Utah catches fish after … Continue reading →

For nearly a weekLOVE stood on our beach(the one we feel closest to), and every morning I’d walkout there and say, “Hi, LOVE!”Often I’d see people pose next to LOVE and pointtheir phones at themselves.I offered to take photos of … Continue reading →

Babies, for starters.Sure, people write books aboutthe tiny mammals, but yours didn’tpop out with a personalizedBaby Home Repair Manual tuckedunder its arm, did it? All that crying…how do you fix that? Hearts, because they’re all the timegetting broken—or certainly creasedand … Continue reading →

You can’t walk on the beachon this island in the middle ofthe sea without tripping over love. Between LOVE spelled out indriftwood on one beach and big ol’ALOHA on another, it’s just lovelovelove, which is, you decide,the universe’s way of … Continue reading →

Life would be a mistake,the window says, as if I need reminding.Apparently, I need reminding. And standing in Ching YoungCenter in Hanalei, clouds ringing the tops of mountains behind melike moisture-laden lei, as I read the golden-arched words, I thinkof … Continue reading →

(for Dickie, with gratitude) Because the L had fallenwhen we went to the beachthis morning, because I’d watched the artistmake LOVE a couple of daysearlier, gathering the just-rightcombination of driftwood forone of his sculptures on sand, because my love and … Continue reading →

(for Dennis, Kauai driftwood sculptor) As I walk onto the sandthe day after it was created,I don’t expect to see it stillupright, given the trafficof the two- and four-footed—not to mention a high tide. But there it standson Tunnels Beach—LOVE, … Continue reading →