Moʻi Itutaua hails from Lualualei on the west coast of Oʻahu.  Doing some genealogy work led Moʻi to consider a career as a Hawaiian Studies teacher.  But her passion is writing.  An assignment in her creative writing class was to write about a childhood memory.  Summers in Mākaha is the delightful result.  Written in Hawaiʻi Creole English (called “pidgin” by its speakers), this poem won a Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Native Hawaiian Writing Achievement Award in Fall 2013.

Credits: video by Rokki Midro, feature post photo courtesy of Kahoʻolemana Naone