I didn’t see the falls when I came in, it was too dark and the sky was too low. There was a heavy mist in the air and there was no ambient light. I slid the little bathroom window shut, thinking that the white noise was some kind of air conditioner or generator, and it muffled the sound slightly. The little coqui frogs cheeped, the static noise of the falls droned in the background, and when the frogs went to bed, so did I.… continued…
I want to tell you some things about what it’s like to be in this part of Hawaii. I want to tell you about how there’s a big hole in the lawn out in front of this big old plantation house and how there’s a chicken wire wrapped pig lying on its back, trotters up, full of hot, hot stone. I want to tell you about the lei I made on the porch this afternoon and how it’s pretty good, actually, I did a decent job for an amateur.… continued…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
The first time I went to Hawaii, I got crazy from the sound of the ukulele. When I returned to Seattle, I’d decided that I was going to make that sound myself. I had no idea how this was going to happen, only that it was. I shopped, listlessly, for a real uke, and I failed to buy one for about a year. One spring afternoon, I was standing on a friend’s front porch — they were getting rid of as many of possessions as they could bear to part with.… continued…
