Cutting Edge
Note: This poem is written in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin.
Dere’s wun invisible razor
slashing through da ages
forevah sharp
and constantly in motion.
It wuz always moa
den just wun passing whimsy.
It wuz wun ascendance
from biological servitude.
Da progression has been moving along
evah since da big bang of da mind
wen explode into da brain.
Take wun look
at all da accumulated knowledge to inherit
in da awakened realm of homo sapiens.
While da earth spins on its axis
and da universe keeps expanding
it’s amazing to realize
dat evolution is wat you make of it.
Units of culture
and replicated means
passed along in wun baton
can now double as wun scepter.
King of da apes
is presently emperor of da solar system
and to tink
it started somewheah back wen
aftah our simian ancestors
left da safety of da trees.
Wit one slice into da darkness
all da neurons wen flash
and consciousness wen advance itself
to set da world on da cutting edge.
About the Poet
Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai’i Creole English) and in American-English. He edited Ho’omanoa: An Anthology of Contemporary Hawaiian Literature. Some of his recent Pidgin writing has appeared in Otoliths, Snorkel, Juked, Hawai’i Pacific Review, and Revolution John, among others. Balaz is an avid supporter of Hawaiian Islands Pidgin writing in the expanding context of World Literature. He presently lives in Ohio.