Melting Edges

Megan Inada, KKV Research Coordinator, photos by Kauila Niheu

Today we commit                                                                                                   to sit with discomfort
with the intention to grow through it.

We are compelled
to explore varied viewpoints
remembering together
that we once knew how to live in harmony
until blunt force societies
shifted our knowing -
changing the smells in our kitchens,
reinterpreting the shapes of our stories. 
        
Resilient, 
the wise-ness remains                                                   
living in the practices of our ancestors,                       
taught in our grandmother’s kitchens, and            
held in the security                                                          
of our father’s arm.

Together we replace cold formalities with
connections to the human parts of our being
living in the in between spaces of                          
community.

Exact solutions                                                     
cannot be protocoled                                                    
as population outcomes                                         
based on individuals                                               
mean nothing                                                         
to                                                        
a                                                                                   
single                                                                               
person.                                         

Rather we will heal together                                              
by always living in aloha                                     
deepening                                                                   
growing                                                                          
whole moments.

Together we work to create safe
loving
spaces,                                                           
so we can learn                                                                  
and remember.                                           
Creating connections                                                  
in a time we must keep our distance
Practicing unconditional friendship with ourselves  
we aim to copy the amebic shapes of our own cells  
constantly contracting and expanding our gazes.  

Focusing on whose                                                what’s                                                                                      
in front of us                                                           
inside of us                                                             
while simultaneously checking in                               
with the past                                                                        
the future                                                          
our systems                                                                 
and communities                                                         
until that edge between becomes so thin           
that we are everything at once