Foreword-Draft 1

Foreword

This is the third issue of Seeds & Esssse. Seeds & Esssse is a journal dedicated to promoting student work of Hawaiʻi in order to display the resilience and brilliance of Hawaiʻi’s public school students. This issue comes from the students of Roosevelt High School. Roosevelt High School serves students from Papakōlea, Makiki, Mānoa, Nuʻuanu, Pauoa, and Punchbowl.

The title of this collection comes from a line of Lona Hudson’s poem about Papakōlea. In the last line he writes, “We come together like birds in a nest.” In his original version of the poem, he wrote, “we stick together like birds in a nest.” I did not ask him why he chose to change the word “stick” to “come,” but I liked his choice to change the word. “Come together” implies “we” leave the nest and return. It is a choice to come together. Hudson’s writing is infused with powerful images and conflict.

It is the same conflict that is reflected in the election of our new president. In light of the recent election of Barack Obama and his call for us to look within to create a better community, he proclaimed, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Perhaps because we live in Hawaiʻi, there was a nagging feeling even amidst the celebration of electing a Democratic president who was born and raised in Hawaiʻi, some believe Hawaiʻi is not a part of America—Kanaka Maoli activists who fight for sovereignty and locals who feel Hawaii is separate from the continental US. For many reasons, we still have many issues with Statehood. How fitting this issue is being published as the anniversary of our fiftieth year as a state.

This book of poems and prose poetry is a coming together of various voices. It does as President Obama asks of us—to do our best even amongst the burdens that we carry. We find common ground in our poetry. We support one another in our struggles. It is only together that we will be able to overcome colonization and the influences that threaten the future of our children. Whether it is Kanaka Maoli sovereignty, gay rights, demilitarization, traffic, genetically modified crops, tourism, or education—it would do us well to listen to the voices of the underrepresented. If we listen, we can hear them. They are in this book. Here, we share our thoughts, our sadness, our losses, our joys, our hopes. Here, we come together.