Aloha kumu: the intergenerational agency of kuleana through moʻolelo

Abstract

A Hawaiian telling a story To share, to learn, to seek, to explore, to transform, to live For now, for after New stories emerge Of laughter, struggle, pain, hope From stories shared You matter to me So I risk it all and tell The next about us Once upon a time There came a man in a boat We later killed him Come the sick we die Come the book we die again Come the school, three deaths Yet here we are, still Back from thoughts that we were dead With stories to tell Once upon a time A shy boy became a man With kuleana To tell through a child What he saw and what he did So they die no more Help me my brother and sister This is the story I tell But what do you hear (response) Brother, this I hear Your story speaking to me speaking back to you Mahalo I hear it too, our stories And more emerging Once upon this time A man with kuleana Retells a story Then he hears a voice, An old soul is telling a Story through a child