No‘u Revilla

your black inscriptions cite a kino lau, whose feathered wingspan, nighttime eyes & pun- ishing beak comprise mo‘okū‘auhau. w/my oiled hands, I greet her, w/hun- gering for mo‘opuna. “mai,” she says, reciting from your thigh. “mai, mai e ‘ai.” I have traveled from Maui a lizard, mes- merized by dreams of ‘ōhi‘a & ai- kāne, lizard filled w/smoke. arrived, I eat transforming in the forest of your grand- mother’s memory: from lizard: woman dreaming: licking tattoo: permission land: skin. traveling the night of your kino to sleep your thighs, ho‘āo, ho‘āo, and wake.