The poem “Huli” depicts a scene of cultural identity and loss, referring specifically to the changes brought by the brutality of colonization. The idea of Huli or “turning” suggests a return, a shift in perspective, which resonates throughout the poem as Imaikalani Kalahele reflects on the transformation of Hawaiian life and values in the wake of American expansion. The poem uses vivid imagery to advocate for a return to roots, to tradition, and to self. It calls attention to the importance of grounding oneself in cultural identity, even amidst the difficulties of modern existence and urging readers to look inward in order to remember what is essential and true.
Imaikalani Kalahele, born on Apr. 22, 1946, is a Kanaka Maoli poet, artist, musician and activist whose work has appeared in various collections of Native Hawaiian literature, such as “Mälama: Hawaiian Land and Water” (1985), in the journal “‘Oiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal,” and included in these writings is his book of poetry, “Kalahele” (2002). Some sources, such as the Library of Congress, have even regarded Kalahele as a philosopher. Kalahele has devoted his life to political resistance through protest and creative works, with poetry and painting being his signature forms of expression.
Interview
The Pinion hosted a talk, led by Malia Manuel, with Kalahele on Nov. 15. It was attended by Pinion journalists, and the opportunity was also extended to students that were interested in meeting the artist. This sparked an in-depth conversation between the students and Kalahele.
Leif Allgood (c/o 2026), one of the attendees at the interview and a Newswriting 1 student, was first exposed to Kalehele through the Home of the Tigers exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
“He was different, most artists I know are, for lack of a better term, stuck-up. They almost put themselves higher than other people,” Allgood said.
Allgood felt that Kalahele seemed very relatable and down to earth.
“He spoke in a way that felt familiar. It didn’t feel like some important figure or celebrity talking down to people, it felt like talking to an uncle,” he said.
Breann (Victor) Cambe, (c/o 2026) was informed by The Pinion Advisor Cynthia Reves about the interview. Cambe shared a similar impression of Kalahele with Allgood, saying that it was a very calming conversation, like talking to an old friend.
“But at the same time, he was very blunt and honest,” Cambe said.
Alex Tijerina (c/o 2026) was given the opportunity by Reves to photograph the interview.
“I like how he made a career for himself here in Hawai’i; He didn’t have to leave because he found opportunities here on the island and made it himself,” Tijerina said. “This was encouraging because it gave me hope that I can make it and stay home where my roots are.”
Art
Cambe was surprised he had not heard of Kalehele before the interview, as he had such a remarkable impact on the art scene here.
“I feel like I should have learned at least a little bit about him in some of my previous art classes.”
Cambe asserted that it is very important to research the ancient Hawaiian arts and how it relates to current art, advising everyone to look at this at least once in their lives. One concept Kalahele has incorporated into his work is “Pō,” specifically 2 paintings titled Doors, Windows, Pō and The Green. In these artworks, Pō is represented as a black dot. Pō, as described by Kalahele, is the great void, the origin, and/or the source of everything.
“You have to understand what Pō is. Life comes out of Pō; Everything comes out of Pō,” Kalahele said.
“When I said ‘My thing is to look into it,’ I meant, where do you go if you want to look for answers? You go to the source.”
Pō according to Wehewehe Wikiwiki, the Hawaiian Language Dictionary, means the realm of the gods; pertaining to or of the gods, chaos, or hell or from the gods; of divine origin.
“I love Hawaiian history, especially learning about people’s understanding of the world and how they interpreted things that were beyond their own comprehension. Pō or the void is an example of this,” Allgood said. “Imai formats these histories in a way that is more understandable and easy for us to think about.”
Kalahele’s poetry first started to be published around 1980 by his friend, Joseph P. Balaz when he was in his early 30s. He said this was what led to him becoming a writer, adding that it was essentially by accident.
“I remember drawing since I was a small child but I didn’t start writing seriously up until the late 70s, when my friend told me that I wasn’t writing bad music, I was writing poetry,” Kalahele said.
Cambe, at the time, had been anticipating reading a poem out loud to the attendants of the HoMA Family event on Sunday Nov. 10, and wanted advice from Kalahele on how to perform in front of crowds.
“His tips definitely helped me in my performance at the Family Event. He told me to just get out there and do it, and I think that is what I did,” Cambe said. “I was able to just go with the flow.”
Kalahele tries to find things he is interested in or feels strongly about to express through his art, whether that be writing, painting, sculptures, etc.
“I have a friend of mine, Alapa’i Hanapi, who’s a carver that has referred to himself as the people artist, and I have always considered my people to be my audience,” he said. “I lean towards Hawaiian expression and that governs my politics and my aloha when I do my work.”
When Kalahele began exhibiting his works, he highlighted the involvement of other Hawaiian artists during his debut.
“It was the old days when we started the first organization of Hawaiian Contemporary artists, and we organized these shows with an emphasis on being Hawaiian,” he said. This organization was called Hale Naua II.
Kalahele was also involved in additional creative workshops with a group of people he would get together with every Sunday for around five to six years. Imai described it as being encouraged, supported and stimulated by the creative sharing and jamming with a group of talented musicians, artists, and composers.
“I would recite these improv pieces over the music they played, it was good fun,” he said.
War/Politics
Kalahele recalled the atmosphere toward Hawaiians in most of their endeavors when he was young. While Kalahele was attending school, there was not any celebration of the culture nor was there much Hawaiian education taught, especially as to what happened historically.
“For a long time, Hawaiians were told not to have any kind of real conviction about things, politically, in art, or in any way really,” Kalahele said. “I think that is one of the big differences between my generation and your generation, you are more privy to the positive aspects of being a Hawaiian.”
During Kalahele’s high school years at McKinley, the draft for the Vietnam War was taking place. The Vietnam War (1955–1975) was a conflict between communist North Vietnam, supported by the Soviet Union and China, and non-communist South Vietnam, backed by the United States. The war was characterized by intense guerrilla warfare, heavy bombings, and widespread protests, particularly in the U.S.
“My five year plan of going to McKinley was to escape the draft because to me, the longer I stayed out of the system, the longer I stayed alive,” he said. “As soon as I graduated though, they got me.” Kalahele graduated in 1966.
The Vietnam War deeply impacted Hawaiians, particularly through the high number of Hawaiian soldiers who served and the disproportionate casualty rate among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. This led to profound grief and trauma in Hawaiian families and communities.
“When you were like me, a poor and basically uneducated Hawaiian, you were nothing more than fodder for the machine.”
Kalahele described being in Vietnam as 1 year of ducking and hiding, constantly focusing on trying to survive and make it back.
“Our basic philosophy was, ‘We all gon come home,’” he said. “I was against the war primarily because to me, these people were innocent. I didn’t know them, they did nothing to me, why am I here killing them? For what?”
Blue Coats and Malos is a work included in Kalahele’s book of poetry. ‘Blue Coats’ likely refers to the uniforms worn by foreign forces, specifically the United States. ‘Malos’ are traditional Hawaiian garments worn by men. The poem can be seen as a meditation on the complex relationship between Native Hawaiian heritage and the intrusion of Western influence, specifically referring to war.
The poem goes on to mention the Vietnam War, as well as multiple groups of people who were also engaged in War with the United States. “I have to ask, Brother Warrior, For who are your warclubs? The Vietnamese in the 60s..” The question “For who are your warclubs?” is repeated twice throughout the poem. Kalehele is questioning the purpose of this violence; Who are these acts of violence intended for, and who are they truly serving? Do these actions fight for something meaningful or is it just for the pursuit of imperialistic goals?
In attitude, this war shaped a lot of how Kalahele thought and how he felt about why he did things.
“Later on, when I found out why America was there, and what we were doing in Vietnam, it became even more outrageous,” he said.
Alongside Kalahele’s concern for the people in Vietnam, his worry for the people of Hawaii remained a primary force driving his efforts.
“The amount of lives it cost was terrible. America did not begin to stop going to Vietnam until the politicians’ sons started to be drafted, that is how many of our people they took,” he said. “I was against this conflict for different reasons at different times, but ultimately I looked at Hawaiians as we were getting stuck again in someone else’s war. It felt almost hopeless at the time.”
Colonization/Activism
To Kalahele, this issue was just a symbol of a bigger problem encompassing many aspects of the Vietnam War; Colonization. Colonization is characterized by the domination and settlement of one nation over another, typically resulting in the exploitation of resources and the oppression of indigenous populations. The legacy of colonization often includes lasting social, economic, and political inequalities that continue to affect subjugated peoples.
Allgood highlighted his view that there is 100% a need in Hawaii for activism, stating that without resistance, there is no progress that can be had.
“Decolonization should be a main focus of activism in Hawaii, meaning removing us from American influences and reconnecting back to our original culture that thrived before colonization,” Allgood said. “If you start doing things, start disrupting the order, you are bringing forward a place that could be better for us.”
Kalahele explained how living in America subjects Hawaiian people to foreign powers and influences beyond their control.
“I live in an occupied nation; we are subject to our colonial rule,” he said. “Whatever happens to them, happens to us.”
Kalahele expressed this being one of the central reasons behind his writing, as he feels that right now, there is a need for things to be spoken about.
“Here we have a country that preaches a set of morality and ethics that did not work for us. What do we do? We need to speak about it,” he said. “The more people talk about it, the more we can get through some of this stuff.”
Kalahele drew parallels between Hawaiian and Vietnamese people in their connections with America.
“These colonial guys whose whole attitude was ‘the hell with these people,’ that we were nothing more than a possession of America,” he said. “What a kick in the face!”
Kalahele emphasized a central problem being that Hawaiian people are raised in a sort of ‘colonial’ way of thinking. The colonial mentality, according to Smith Scholarworks, is defined as the perception of ethnic and cultural inferiority, a form of internalized racism.
In the poem Na Ali’i – Now Kine by Imaikalani Kalahele, it contrasts traditional Hawaiian leadership and culture with the modern-day reality faced by Hawaiians.
Once you walked around proud in your malo
now Reyn’s shirts cover your shoulders
Liberty House dockers
cover your legs
And Gucchi shoes
separate you from
your source.
It reflects on how Hawaiian values and practices have been altered or diminished due to colonization and cultural assimilation. This poem is just one of many by Kalahele that contain images of colonialism.
“To decolonize is really a trip because decolonization, especially social and cultural decolonization is a lengthy process that entails philosophies, entails religions, it entails everything about how you think about yourselves.” he said.
Rise up.
Out of the
ashes of colonial thinking.
Rise up.
Rise up.
Rise up.
- Excerpt from the poem Rise Up by Imaikalani Kalahele.
Conclusion
In the long run, Kalahele did not have a set plan for what he wanted his life to be like, stating that his life has just been one continual thing happening after another.
“It is hard for me to look at a singular defining moment because things have always kept on happening and changing,” he said. “I fall into situations that lead me to do other things, like a lot of my writing and art is because of my involvement in political activism.”
Ultimately, Kalahele wants people to understand and connect to the work he does, his goal being not only to influence people, but to open a door to another way of thinking.
“There has been a new awakening and I think that we as people have started to express ourselves more, and started to think differently about ourselves,” he said.
“I hope that whatever I leave is of use to somebody. As an artist, that is all we can really do, is hope that people will use our work.”
