ISLE PAGES
New releases by Hawaii authors
"Night Is a Sharkskin Drum"
by Haunani-Kay Trask
(University of Hawaii Press, $12.95)
Reviewed by Burl Burlingame "Night Is a Sharkskin Drum"
bburlingame@starbulletin.com
As the Appointed Voice in the cult-of-personality secular religion called Hawaiian Studies, Trask's first locally published book in nearly a decade is both eagerly awaited and Danger UXB -- after all, her 1999 poetry collection "Light in the Crevice Never Seen" was charactized by Kirkus Reviews as "extraordinarily angry ... shrill, two-dimensional verse, which amounts to a kind of Polynesian agitprop." But maybe Trask is mellowing out.Although "Sharkskin Drum" is informed by the same hubris, which will be seen by some as brittle arrogance and by others as brave defiance, it's fairly introspective as Trask goes -- about half of it has a sexy, earthen rhythm, ripe with juice, as if the words are copulating. The rest are predictable vulgar-American, crass-Japanese creeds, written like advertising copy. Trask uses words both as feathers and as cudgels. So why is the book written in English rather than Hawaiian?
"Diamond Head -- Hawaii's Icon" by Allan Seiden (Mutual, $24.95)
Who hasn't taken a picture of Diamond Head? There's something fundamentally brave about its shape -- instead of tumbling toward the sea, like the rest of the crumbling hills beaten down by erosion, Diamond Head rears away from the shore. Poet Don Blanding called it a headless sphinx, with it's paws in the sea, and that's a pretty good description.
One-man picture-book factory Seiden has collected together most of the classic images of the geologic landmark, and woven together enough scientific, historical and pop-cultural padding to add meat in the packaging. There are signs of rushing it, such as the image of aircraft carrier Saratoga identified as a "battleship" or refering to drummer Buddy Miles as trumpeter "Miles Davis," but overall this is a nice keepsake package.
"What is this thing called Aloha" by Robert James (Island Heritage, $9.99) James, a Zen student and photography columnist, wonders about the essence of "aloha." Is it an abstract concept or a realistic guide for living? Curiously, none of the warm photographs were taken by James -- they're by Veronica Carmona.
"Lessons in Love" by Dr. Lina Andrade Wheeler (Island Heritage, $9.99) Wheeler is CEO of Successories of Hawaii, an outfit that produces motivational products, and this book is suitably uplifting, a compilation of her meditations on experiences of the heart. Depending on your own wildly fluctuating moods, you'll either want to embrace it or slap some sense into her.
Click for online
calendars and events.
