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- Title
Poetry and Medicine: A Water Prayer, Kula, Maui.
- Authors
Lampton, Lucius M.; Jame, Adele Ne; Chimera, Melissa
- Abstract
This month, a lovely, original poem is offered, the fourth in a series, by Adele Ne Jame, a first-generation Lebanese American who has lived in Hawai'i since 1969. To introduce this poem "A Water Prayer, Kula, Maui", Adele relates: "What moved me to write about Maui in this poem is the sentiment I share with the great English poet, William Wordsworth as expressed in his long poem, 'The Prelude' written more than two hundred years ago. While paddling a boat down a beautiful, densely tree-lined river near his home, the Derwent, the speaker ruminates on his solitary, transcendent moments so that he concludes, 'there is a spirit that rolls through all things.' This phrase has always deeply resonated for me. We recognize what the English and American Romantic writers of that period called a transcendental experience, that is communing with nature, actually feeling as if your body is one with the landscape that you are immersed in. This still can be a common experience in places that have not been defoliated. Many still treasure the sacred and healing nature of these transcendent experiences, and many of us still agree with Wordsworth that nature can cure the problems that society creates. Yet, we know some of these sacred places are now either gone or under deadly threat because of expansive commercial development and because of climate change. We well know that we lose these places at our own peril. In 1969 when I first stepped foot in the Hawaiian Islands, I fell in love with this place because of its beauty and spirit, that energy that emanates from natural world in this the most isolated archipelago on the planet. I fell in love because its people have always understood that they are stewards of God's creation and who, in their ordinary daily life, exhibit deep reverence for it. I lived for a long time in Kula, upcountry, Maui close to where my daughter, Melissa, lived with her family for fourteen years. As a conservationist, she worked for Haleakalā National Park, on that glorious volcanic mountain that reaches 10,023 feet above sea level, and for a time, she served as the Acting Director of the Nature Conservancy there. We often hiked into Waikamoi Preserve together, intensely experiencing those same transcendent moments. So, the opening section of the poem is a celebration of that sacred landscape. Then the poem moves on to lament the tragic fires that occurred August 10, 2023. There were three fires in Kula, and Lāhaina was completely destroyed. The poem also reflects on what Lāhaina was before commercial development, deforestation, and the appropriation of land and water rights. But now, in spite of the terrible loss of life, displacement and the severe suffering of survivors and others in those communities, the slogan, 'Maui Strong' captures the will and spirit of those peoples who believe the healing of the land and of the people will come." Melissa's painting which accompanies the poem is entitled "Not Even the Fiercest Wind" (2023, mixed media on canvas, silk and linen).
- Subjects
MAUI (Hawaii); LAHAINA (Hawaii); HAWAII; SACRED space; WATER rights; AMERICAN authors; ENGLISH poets; PRAYERS
- Publication
Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association, 2024, Vol 65, Issue 1/2, p1
- ISSN
0026-6396
- Publication type
Article