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