Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Joe Balaz- A Poem



ELECTRIC BEACH

By da name you could imagine

supercharged eels
or stingrays in da currents

but it wuz nutting like dat.

Da beach wuz known as such
because of da nearby power plant
at Kahe Point.

Two giant cooling pipes offshore
outflowed clean warm watah

so all da surrounding marine life
wuz attracted to check it out.

Dats why da place

wuz so popular wit snorkelers
and scuba divers.

Reggie wuz familiar
wit Electric Beach too

but he didn’t have
any fish on his mind

wen he sat at dat bar
in nearby Ko Olina.

He wuz moa interested
in da tourist chick
dat wuz looking back at him.

Dere wuz wun mutual tingle
on da brainwaves

and at first Reggie’s plan
wuz foa the two of dem

to drive dat night
back to his apartment in Waianae

but suddenly dey stopped
at Electric Beach instead

and disappeared into da dark.

Needless to say
dey lit it up on wun towel

and wuz headed
to wun explosive surge

wen wun synthetic sun
blazed on dere startled eyeballs.

Behind wun flashlight

wun voice like God
in da Garden of Eden

spoke and revealed
two okoles gleaming in da glare.

Da cop
wen cut dem wun break

right deah on Electric Beach

wen he told dem to leave
and go get wun room—

lucky foa dem
dey won't have to pay
wun utility bill

foa misusing da premises.



Glossary
okole Rear end; buttocks.




Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai'i Creole English) and American-English. He edited Ho'omanoa: An Anthology of Contemporary Hawaiian Literature. He presently lives in Ohio.


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