Pulupē Ka ‘Ili

Kainani Kahaunaele

Kōkeʻe is the name of the stream on the western edge of Waimea Canyon by which Kōkeʻe State Park and the surrounding area (including Puʻukāpele, Hālauaola, Waineki, Kapukaʻōhelo, and Kauaikananā) are currently known. The name’s meaning, “to wind and bend,” serves to remind us of the need to unwind and unbend our minds from western notions of unpleasant weather in order to appreciate the imagery of Kainani Kahaunaele’s “Pulupē ka ʻIli.” The heavy, encircling mist of Kōkeʻe is characterized by its ability to penetrate one’s clothing, to pinch at and soak the skin, and to generate a sensation that is at once tingling and numbing. From a western point of view, this cold, damp mist is uninviting—something to be gotten out of, toasted away in front of a fireplace, and medicated with coffee and Bristol Cream. In the very Hawaiian context of “Pulupē ka ʻIli,” however, the mist becomes a metaphor of excitement and yearning; it settles on the composer like a powerful memory of love; it arouses and reminds; it conjures images of pristine lehua blossoms and sated, nectar-sipping birds; it heightens the senses, underscores the poet’s real-time separation from the mole of Lehua Island, and calls for a skin-drenching re-union. In the very Hawaiian world of “Pulupē ka ʻIli,” the chill of Kōkeʻe is extremely hot stuff.

© Kainani Kahaunaele, 2000