The name Nānākuli, the West Oʻahu town that many of Leeward Community College students hail from, has been defined as “to look to the knees” and “to pretend to be deaf.” But Hawaiian place names are more than literal translations. Indeed, place names relate history and details of the lives of the people who live in a geographic area. For our featured writer, Nānākuli is the link to her ancestors.
Meet the poet, Nānākuli resident and Leeward CC graduate Elsie Moʻi Peters Itutaua,
Nānākuli
to look towards your knees.
“Well that’s all you guys are good for anyway,”
other people tease.
But we say, “Nānākuli Ea!”
rise, go up, raise, become erect.
Stand tall and firm!
Nānākuli Proud!
Nānākuli, the place where
a hero,
mischievous Maui, met the Sun.
He captured it and slowed it down.
Pu‘u Heleakalā.
Nānākuli, the place of
my father
and his eight brothers who
made mischief, like Maui.
But not quite.
Nānākuli, the place where
everybody knows your name,
your family’s name.
Where families are connected,
intertwined.
Proud to come from a place of
a hero, my father, and my family.
Nānākuli Ea!
Credits: feature photo by Soest – Hawaiʻi Coastal Geology Group, video by Rokki Middro