Learning The Hula Above Anini
by Rosemerry
(A poem of appreciation to Fern-Merle Jones, co-leader of Halau Kupua o Kauai)

Don't move your shoulders,

she says. Just your hips. She

does not say why. Her back

is straight and still, knees bent,

and she teaches me the hela,

the ka'apuni, the kaholo.

Our feet move, our hips

move. We are slow and quiet.

Then she teaches my hands to speak.

The rain is falling, she says.

We flutter our fingers

and turn. It brings life

to the land and makes flowers

bloom. But this is only

what it means on the surface,

she says. The blossom, she says,

as she turns her hands up, is our love

for our children, or for a lover,

or even, she says for our parents.

No one ever knows exactly

what the hula really says.