University of Virginia Library

4 Maui

He lolled against the archway
    to the Underworld, murmuring
        how Wairaka's ghost brushed
past him, eyes and mouth agape
    in a soundless scream. A liar
        he may have been, but he
wasn't all bad. Trying to abolish
    death at great personal
        risk showed real nobility,
but try telling that to the
    piwakawaka, who fell out of
        their tree with laughter,
when Hinenuitepo turned massively
    in her sleep, closed her thighs,
        crushing his skull like eggshell.