The call came in
from campers on the beach,
from watchkeepers
in the wind above earth,
the word of encroaching spiritual darkness
trying to steal her mana. Again.
But, she’s not for sale today, or tomorrow,
while warriors of the Aina are about.

He heard the Tutus, the old ones, ancestors
whispering in his ears,
“Come down to the ocean. We need your help.”
And he came. They came;
Descendants, Defendants Of Mama Ka`u
leaving breakfast behind on the kitchen table
to a place they had been a thousand times before
answering her call.  

A place where they had cradled in tidal pools as babies,
learned to fish with fathers and father’s fathers,
filled empty stomachs from the fruits of the aina,
engorged with joy from the life of her breasts,
from the salt, from the soil, from the sea,
building campfires in moonlight,
songs and feasts celebrating hardship, and plenty, and love,
her children curled in her arms,
in the shadows of ancient heiau built by the hands of those who came before,
her generations of children rocked to sleep in black sand
and cool stones smoothed by centuries of ocean rhythm,
and by the sound of the `ili`ilihanau being born in the clatter and
crashing of receding tides.

This place is honored by respect and kuleana,
A place of prayer and sacrifice, and fierce gods,
The last to stand against colonization;
A place of story-telling, of myth, of legends,
A place of honu,
and children.  

When the protectors of the land arrived at this place,
they waited for the thief who dared steal Ka`u by daylight,
his arrogance jackhammering an offering of sickness and disease,
an offal of greed crushing stones of sacredness.
But her children were ready,
Their feet planted in his path of destruction.
No bulldozers on this sacred shore they said,
In this place, “One sacrilege is a sacrilege too many.”
Never will you take our mother.
Never will she be your whore.  

“But, I don’t understand. It is for fun, and locals will get free rides.”  

Wow. What conceit. What monetary western capitalistic privilege.
What ignorance. What outrage.  
Our mother’s birthing canals shall not be disrespected.
Her uterus shall not be dishonored.
No.
Not now.
Not ever.  
Prayer Warriors. Land Warriors. Earth Warriors,
Mama Ka`u is calling you to protect your Home.

*For Demetrius Oliveira, Sophia Hanoa, and all warriors on the front line.
Keep Ka`u Ka`u.