Papaʻa

ka papaʻa [kiʻa] 1) archive: As in: The papaʻa doesn’t get as many visitors as it once did. 2) backup, as in a computer program: You’re slow to throw away your father’s things: you keep a landline—his voice on the answering machine—though only scammers call; before Māmā cancels the number, you make a papaʻa of his voice: Leave a message, thank you.

ka papaʻa [kāhulu] 1) Redup. of paʻa. tight: By the end of his shift, every muscle in his back is papaʻa from moving lumber. 2) secure, especially of a walled stronghold: Māmā imagines a papaʻa future for you in the North: bear-proof windows, security cameras, a wealth of ground water tanked beneath the floors.

ka papaʻa [painu] 1) to hold back: The man papaʻa his chainsaw: a hawk nests in the topmost branches of a fir.

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Malia Maxwell (Kanaka Maoli) is a writer from Seattle, Washington. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry Northwest, Black Warrior Review, No Tokens, Frozen Sea, and elsewhere. Visit her at www.maliamaxwell.com.