The entrance into ... the poetry of language ... the bones of The Safety Pin Cafe

" When your soul awakens, you begin to truly inherit your life. You leave the kingdom of fake surfaces, repetitive talk and weary roles and slip deeper into the true adventure of who you are and who you are called to become. The greatest friend of the soul is the unknown. Yet we are afraid of the unknown because it lies outside our vision and our control. We avoid it or quell it by filtering it through our protective barriers of domestication and control. The normal way never leads home." - John Donohue

For a month now, The Safety Pin Cafe has surfed the cyber waves, catching the reader's eye, perhaps, tantalized your imagination. It tickles me to know that the scents of The Safety Pin Cafe interest you, for I see that more than 100 readers have sampled the story that began in the winter. My ancestors were skilled and powerful water-folk, surfers and voyagers on the wa'a kaulua (canoe) the ride from here to there depended upon a willingness to adapt to the wave, to the water.

 If you have read the medicine story and came to the concluding chapter you might recognize the Granny Smith Apple ... the choice of apples for a pie served around a table upstairs, above the cozy cafe that serves no coffee, but offers instead steamed milk and cinnamon toast. The photos above were taken years ago (before the story of a border witch strung itself), yet it is that apple and that pan which will be the cover to the book. Left unattended the photos rested in the archives and now they have been uncovered ... they have a job to do, a joy to encourage, a story to enliven.

How patient am I to learn the skills of self-publication? Not always very patient, but I persist, teaching myself how to use new software I press on the brain cells and hope for bridges to make sense of LibreOffice Writer.  I thought the pages of the chapbook would be ready by now, 'aue ... alas, no, not yet. Still paddling! Writing this post is a break from that new territory which I wade through like eating a tasty bit of fish filled with bones. Ono (delicious) with some risks.



The character Pale muses late in the story, "A border witch like myself depends upon longevity for power; early on the journey is often a jumble and tumble affair. We don't come to fit our names until Saturn has returned twice to our birth markers. So, you see being no-longer-young has it's upsides." The Safety Pin Cafe is my mythic memoir. Gleaning and harvesting the genetic memory of my Hawaiian roots, the story is a contemporary expression that offers meaning in words, and images, on multiple levels. Truth and myth hold hands in a mythic memoir and the partnership is baked into pie. Who does not love pie? Unlocking meanings for a writer can mean I ride the flow of the unconscious and pin together images meant to satisfy different readers with a taste unique to their need. What challenges me is how to be grounded in my creativity, and willing to plod through new territory, testing new recipes metaphorically and see it as worthy exercise!

Listen for a few minutes to Puakea Nogelmeir as he speaks about the Hawaiian poet.

As I continue navigating the watery expanse of LibreOffice Writer learning enough to format and send a printable file off to be printed, there is a bright spot of news to share:

Annie Zeller Horton has invited me to talk with her about The Safety Pin Cafe on WhidbeyAIR, Whidbey Island's all internet public radio station. The program airs next Monday, August 5, 2013 at 1PM-2PM. What an exciting opportunity! LISTEN IN. (This was a lot of fun)!

A hui hou,
Mokihana