Hoalauna

On the day my dad died

You brought me 

Halloween-themed oreo cookies on lollipop sticks

Covered in chocolate, masquerading as ghosts

That is what one eats

After coming home from the mortuary.

They were the best cookies I ever had…

Slowly they would perceive the imperceptible

Although the removal process was unseen

It was still measurable

Measurable in tears that would come years later

Measurable in the pain of the empty room

The smile of memories

The possibility or impossibility of reunions

The quiet void shared the morning after when the 

tide had gone out marking the end of another season

***

the gentle summer Breeze arrived early today to say

“I’m sorry”

as it brought the scent of aching renewal

***

The tearing down process is the Eternal

A first jaunt into the Eastern Sierra Nevadas

A daunting sojourn until the thawing out process

Allows you to imbibe its waters and

The taste is locked in forever

The process is travel and it is return

To a place of laughs and Thanksgivings shared

To a place one calls reliability and consistency

The place of shutting and opening doors

11PM midweek “Can you please be quiet?”’s

8AM “Mind if I watch the World Cup with you”’s

Friday night non-judgments

Saturday morning non-judgments

Sunday evening BBQ

Monday morning camaraderie as we head in reverse

down the driveway

Something there is…

…because Hoalauna is the place, too, of decrepit screen doors

And wood panels fed on by termites

Garages aging through raccoon invasions

Shower head attachments rusting into the

walls

that

eventually

thin out

Like the hardened souls of humans

As we age

And thin out

Realizing that facades are

just that indeed

Chocolate covered oreo cookies masquerading as ghosts

Overseeing the aches and pains of renewal

Some believe, “Good fences make good neighbors”

But den some neighbors are Hawaiian