BOLO HEAD<\/p>\n
\u201cHaven\u2019t I seen you heah before?
\nI tink you had hair dough\u2014
\nyou look different wit wun shaved head.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wuz tinking<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t tink so lady,
\nI just got off da plane\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
but I answered in wun sarcastic tone anyway\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I heard Alexander
\nwuz tinking about invading Persia<\/p>\n
so I cut my hair real short to join up.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wuz expecting wun weird look
\nbut she laughed and said,<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funny, maybe,
\nbut I\u2019m also moody and I got bad teeth
\nso wat else does she want to know?\u2014<\/p>\n
Before I could digest dat taught
\nshe quickly added,<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I get it too\u2014
\nshaved head so da enemy
\ncan\u2019t grab your hair in battle\u2014<\/p>\n
Do I look like da enemy to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
My cognitive brain lit up!
\nI wuz tinking\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cHoly crap! Wun intelligent woman\u2014
\n\u2014Watch out!\u201d<\/p>\n
I just had to chuckle
\nand I sounded as if I wuz almost apologizing\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cDats kinnah witty.<\/p>\n
You know, I wasn\u2019t brushing you off
\nor anyting li\u2019dat\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
She knew adahwise and said,<\/p>\n
\u201cDats okay, I wuz just making conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dat prompted me to instantly ask her\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, wat are you doing heah?\u201d<\/p>\n
As it wuz
\nDolores popped into da little Kaimuki bar
\nto have wun quick drink
\nbefore she hooked up wit her girlfriends to go dancing.<\/p>\n
She lived right up da road on Sierra Drive
\nand her braddah wuz da bartender
\nof da family business<\/p>\n
so da Black Russian dat she ordered
\nwuz on da house.<\/p>\n
She worked at First Hawaiian Bank
\nnot dat far from heah<\/p>\n
and found it extremely interesting
\ndat I wuz wun poet
\ndat wuz invited to give wun poetry reading
\ndat evening at da University of Hawaii.<\/p>\n
She also asked me if da Vodka Collins
\nI wuz drinking
\nhelped to prepare me foa my presentation.<\/p>\n
I told her dat it couldn\u2019t hurt
\nbut it would probably wear off by den.<\/p>\n
But wat she really found fascinating
\nwuz da fact dat I lived in Ohio
\nfoa da last twelve years<\/p>\n
and dat dis wuz da first time I wuz back.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you end up in Ohio?\u201d
\nshe asked.<\/p>\n
I answered,<\/p>\n
\u201cI married wun woman from Cleveland\u2014
\nWun of da many mistakes in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014she let out wit wun big laugh
\nand her braddah did too.<\/p>\n
Wun biggah laugh followed
\nwen she found out da town I lived in\u2014<\/p>\n
\u2014Macedonia\u2014<\/p>\n
I had to explain dat I wasn\u2019t kidding\u2014
\n\u2014it wuz wun town in Summit County
\nbetween Northfield and Twinsburg.<\/p>\n
Aftah talking story foa awhile
\nwe both left da bar at da same time
\nand just outside da door
\non Waialae Avenue she told me,<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wuz so nice talking to you.
\nGood luck wit your poetry reading.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled and told her\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cTanks. It wuz nice talking to you too.
\nHave fun dancing and take care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wat a cool diversion
\nor digression
\nor watevah da case might be.<\/p>\n
I walked around da corner
\nto my rented car<\/p>\n
and reached
\ninto my pocket foa my keys<\/p>\n
wit anadah story already written
\ninside my bolo head.<\/p>\n
~ Joe Balaz<\/p>\n
Joe Balaz is a well known writer of Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai\u2019i Creole English). He also writes in American-English and creates visual concrete poetry and composes music-poetry. Some of his Pidgin works\u00a0such as \u201cJunior Like Be Wun Rastah,\u201d \u201cPidlit 101,\u201d \u201cDa History of Pigeon,\u201d and \u201cDa Mainland to Me,\u201d are viewed and studied as classics in the genre. Balaz also recorded Electric Laulau<\/em> (1998), an innovative and groundbreaking cd of his Pidgin literature set to music. In 2005 Balaz moved to northeast Ohio and presently lives in the Greater Cleveland area.<\/p>\n