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Kalehua Kim
Winner of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association inaugural Pasifika Poetry Award Singing with the manifold tongues of the ʻāina, Kalehua Kim gives us mana from the depths of her heart and of the heart of Hawaiʻi nei. Beautiful! A first book of rare clarity and meticulous care, Mele honors the duality of inheritance. Each of its lines carries the irreducible beauty of what's been passed down from mother to daughter. But inheritance, generated in part through loss, is also responsibility. Mele transforms obligation into the gift of continuance, keeping love in circulation through remembered story and fresh new song. "this is how I hold you now," Kalehua Kim writes to her mother, though these large-hearted poems hold all their loved ones with quiet passion, grace, good humor, and just enough side eye to keep it real.Browse all performers