—For the Hōkūleʻa
On the long voyage home,
across a blue world from green
to green, there comes a point
where you must turn in darkness.
Where those who read the stars
must gather at the bow, agree
that the Southern Cross hovers
two and half fingers above
the horizon, then heave the oar,
snap the sails to the other side.
And if that moment is missed
you’ll never reach Hawaiʻi.
This lost art, recovered, brought back
the great canoes, pointed them
toward tomorrow, Set prows’
prismatic spray to dance silk sky.
Wendi White hails from the Adirondack Mountains but now muses among the geckos and ginger scented ridges of Oʻahu. She earned her MFA from Old Dominion University’s Creative Writing program in Virginia, and recently, her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. When not at her writing desk, she builds marsh mounds for the endangered Hawaiian Moorhen.
Notes:
Hōkūleʻa: The Hōkūleʻa,” Star of Gladness”, is a reconstruction of a waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, it is best known for its 1976 Hawaiʻi to Tahiti voyage completed with exclusively traditional navigation techniques. At that time, it had been over 600 years since the last voyaging canoe had completed that journey.
