Ask Me about the Moon

The land of the Hawaiian natives now belonged to the upper class who came to visit making the natives slaves in their own land. Lines like “castles in the sand” when you go out onto the beach to look out into the dark sky at the moon and see only the development in the skyline that houses tourist who come to Hawaii for luxury and its beauty which is all built from the sweat of the local’s brow.  Eventually the land’s purpose, sanctity to them fades away, its beauty and wonder stripped of what it once represented, its significance to their culture now tainted by outsiders who the land now served for their pleasure and vocational bliss. Another element introduced is the fading text and then another replacing it before its even fully out of the scene, out into a white scratch, scribbling representing the waves of the ocean that many tourists come to enjoy off the labor of the natives’ backs whose own resources then becomes a chain of slavery to their land made an early powerful impact less than a minute into the piece. Deep inhales of exhausted breathing around minute 1:30 depicting the physical stress and laborious work that picks up at certain intervals of the video when a few paragraphs of text are left on the screen to read emphasize the Hawaiian peoples struggles keeping up with their work situation to survive and make a living. Lines such as “reef of spent muscular secretion of hope”, “palaces of purchased love”, “sleeps unsettled twin” all powerfully stood out to me depicting these feelings that probably don’t get heard or shared to create a unified voice. The picking up and fading in of a new word to replace the next creates also for me the feeling of labor, continuous movement with no rest in sight, a chain reaction where everything and everyone is connected to the land, its people, tourist. One cannot be without the other. The Emmanuel Levinas text on the “ego” and escaping the “there is” I am still trying to figure out.

This digital poem also made me think and refer to a few lines from Yardley, Pa 1997 of v: “like a place in the world where things’r beautiful and you can let ‘em be.” I feel this is a big issue with the world and our “Ego”. We have to try and make places ours, or our home away from home. This happens all around the world with struggling countries and lands whose people have no other way of income but Tourism and have to basically pimp themselves out to strangers while they come in and act like they run or own the place with little regard to the land’s history, and people who inhabit as their home and have created the culture, history they come to explore.

The Vine & the Fish

The kudzu seemed to gain popularity early in American lifestyles for its diverse uses especially in farming, and its aromatic grape scent. It’s interesting to see how a plant was so popular at one point, especially during a challenging time period and then have an unpopular opinion or change about its use, appearance, and acceptance in society now having backs turned to it. This is a common theme that I think can be related to this piece as every day, week, year one race, culture, religion takes some lashing out at it or is singled out as the problem to Americas woes or the ones who created it and continue to contribute to. These are usually not based off of any factual information, just opinionated, well versed rhetoric that many just grab a political hold of to feel part of something or have a voice in society, or their communities. The small, boxed drawings, and captions to go with the piece do move fast and I have to pause them to get a good read of them and interpret what is being said. Descriptive words like “alien species” “competition for share resources” or harm, brings a defensive vibe to what is going to be said from there on. I think this goes well with what is happening in our society today here in America. Many who come here will be labeled or referred to with such terms, or phrases once they begin to make a life here in America and start creating competition for others in business, work, and education. Many will start to feel that they shouldn’t be allowed or are invading a good thing in place, no one wants to share the pie of success. The intermittent labor of breathing also was experienced in this piece of work that brings with it the feeling of exhaustion with acceptance or flux in how people are treated or seen in the U.S. as “harmful invaders” as the kudzu did once it seemed to loose its original purpose of being useful. Your good to your last move in America. Once a wave or momentum has you in the undertow or against you it is hard to get your credibility back or seen as a good.