Ala Wai Canal
The Brown Wai
The Ala Wai Canal is a long body of water that resides in Waikīkī. The body of water is 2 miles long stretching from the Manoa and Palolo Streams to the Ala Wai Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. Built in 1928, it was built to drain the unsanitary wetlands. However, as years passed the canal became polluted. The real estate built around it caused it to become an urban sink. Pollution, mercury, and chemicals became detected in the body of water. What was once created to sanitize now needs to be sanitized.
No Action
I’ve been used
Even disposed
I have been polluted
But I am still fluid.
Rain had broken me
Thunderstorms had destroyed me
But I am still flowing
And growing
If only I had help
Then I would not hate myself
Of the growing mercury inside my body
I have been smelled
Even yelled
Some even rowed upon me
But all those interaction
Still lead to no action
Two
Two.
Two was supposed to be about balance
I was supposed to be a partnership
I was supposed to be nurturing
But being 2 miles long
I am nothing but one menacing canal
Who hurts people I don’t want to
When I was being built
I was promised to have two outlets
In order to protect Waikiki Beach
I was left with only one outlet
The one outlet I was left with
Left me to bury my problems
I buried my sickness until
I was overflowed with bacteria
I will continue to bury my pain
Until one day I overflow with tears
So much tears I put my sisters
Diamond Head
Ala Moana
And Moiliili
Under water
One day I will cry
And Nature and mankind will no longer work together
My oneness will turn Hawai‘i
Into destruction
One
Three
The two I was meant to have
Watercolor Tears
I was once clear
I was once blue
I was once drinkable
I was once swimmable
Then sewage was dumped onto me
When a broken pipe flowed the streets of Waikiki in 2006
The water flowed back into me
I became an urban sink
Anything filthy that flows into me
Only marinates in my body
I am contaminated
I am no longer drinkable
No longer swimmable
People will only be in danger
If they touch me
I am tainted
I am no longer clear
I am no longer blue
I am green, brown, and any color
The grimy trash mixes into me
And all I can do is bathe in my
Watercolor tears
Before Me
Unity
Community
Opportunity
Words that have always been
Foreign to me
Who knew that if I was patched
With other wetlands
I could be saved and flourish
Who knew that some Waikīkī streets
Can be replaced with soft-shored canals
To rejuvenate the wetlands
Who knew Living canal edges
Can strengthen my immune urban system
Everybody knew
But money was put before me