da wäwae outta ke kalipa

In Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s raw modern vocality of Hawaiian pidgin she pronounces a dimension of post-colonization engendered with poetic details of street smarts, tough lessons and female heart. In an interview with Caroline Wright from IS magazine, she highlights several nuances that have affected her work as a writer. One in particular is her relation with her grandmother. She does not mention much besides her current caretaking routine of the elderly woman but in a follow up question she does divulge that since her grandmother’s conversion from Kanya to Christianity, she got raised as a “foot washing baptist”. In relation to a close reading from SNATPT, I choose to focus on the poem, “The Foot”, a component of the Blame in Parts series. As the reader moves through the poem they feel subjected to accusations of slipper tampering and leaving their toe jam in the inappropriately borrowed slippers, “And if I catch/the asshole/who using my/rubber slippers/and making me/catch their toe jams/I going broke their ass. (Yamanaka, SNATPT, pg. 69)

Accordingly so, Robert Frost said “Poetry is what get’s lost in translation” So what is Yamanaka’s “foot” saying?  I intend to look at this poetic translation through the lens of colonialism.

What I find particularly interesting is that prior to Hawaii’s colonization footwear was not as popular. During the adoption of these customs, their sense of modesty was awakened, while the art of living barefoot, that came with the surf riding culture, diminished. Coming to incorporate footwear into their daily regimen, Hawaiian peoples have unofficially adopted the slipper as their state footwear, as it is the most seen and worn shoe on the island, pushing the Hawaiian cultural aspect of comfortability through the perpetuation of this symbol in jewelry, tattoos, still lifes and sculptures. While rubber slippers are still in accord with the Hawaiian’s lifestyle choice of a balanced minimalist nature they can be considered a new paradigm of existence with which to view cross cultural colonization. Although the Hawaiian rubber slipper is a descendant of the Japanese Zori sandal, the iconic rubber slipper is a physical mediator of Hawaiian values, like practicality, thriftiness, humility and personal freedom inspite of the oppressively binding closed toe shoes of mainland western morally based ideals.

The significance of toe jam in the poem seems to signal a fragmented sense of selfishness, intrusion and criticism that is also conveyed in the two other poems under the heading “Blame in Parts”. Toe jam being the dead skin cells, sock fluff, surface dirt, sweat, skin oils and bacteria accumulated throughout the day which poor hygienic practices or certain feet-related medical conditions such as athlete's foot can make the appearance and odor of toe jam even more noticeable. The misappropriate instances of self-centeredness with explicit connections to manners, hygiene, and greed from the reading seem to culminate to a blame in whole with relation to social etiquette passed down by the early pioneering missionaries in Hawaii. The toe jam is like a micro version of the dispossession of Hawaiian cultures and the infringement of privacy leading to difficulties produced by imperialism's consumerist nature.