Monday, May 28, 2012

Can you say Humuhumunukunukuapua'a?!

Aloha, mates! I hope this finds you all well and happily returned home with goblets running over with beautiful memories of our time together in Hawai’i. Roger and I are knee=deep already in spring cleaning and garden tending, enjoying balmy days (mostly) on the shores of Lake Ontario. But we don’t want to let go of our adventures in paradise, so … our photo book of the trip is now complete.. Go to "http://karlalinnphotobooks.shutterfly.com" and you can view it. You just need to sign up to be a member of the Shutterfly community. They’ll send me a confirming email so we can be “photo friends” (to use today’s parlance). It’s 80+ pages. You’ll find your smiling face there, too, amid the landscapes and seascapes, flora and fauna, and other peoples of the islands! I’m also sending along my collection of Hawai’I poems, Aloha, Aloha. (Available to blog readers upon email request.) Even if you’re not much of a poetry reader, I think you’ll find something enjoyable – humor is included. And in case you’re curious, a couple notes on the poems to inform your reading; you’ll find: 1) a couple “contemporary sonnets” – don’t expect Shakespeare!—the form has evolved, the rules are more relaxed, so the poet need not fuss with rhymes and such; just make it 14 lines; 2) something called a “skink” – that’s a contemporary form I developed last year in which the poem is limited to five lines, must include two rhymes and the last line must echo the second – it’s tougher than you might think to bring off; 3) the “scherzo” (scherzi in the plural) is another contemporary form developed by the great American poet, William Heyen, a dear, dear friend of ours, and is limited to 13 syllables (not including title) in two lines with a single rhyme – also tougher than you’d think to do well; 4) lots of Hawai’ian words—I fell in love with the language, so musical, such a celebration of vowels; 5) and the poem I read at our “last supper” aboard the Safari Explorer: “Kona Song.” Thank you for listening! Today, in remembering the latest in the Adventures of Karla and Roger, I thank all my fellow travelers on all those expeditions, those from the dory trip down the Grand Canyon, those voyaging with us into the Arctic and Antarctic, those from the Amazon and the Nile, the islands named Galapagos, the islands named Hawai’I, Oceans Atlantic and Pacific, and from Belize, from the Baja, from states and provinces and territories across North America— Today, I bid you peace on Earth. Karla, aka The Vagabond Poet P.S. If you’re interested in reading more of my work in words and photos, please feel free to relax in the pages of my blog: www.karlalinn.blogspot .com. Oh, yeah, I also have books to sell, should you crave more.