Poems by Wayne Kaumualii Westlake

In an all-too-brief life and literary career, Wayne Kaumualii Westlake produced a substantial body of poetry. He broke new ground as a poet, translated Taoist classical literature and Japanese haiku, interwove perspectives from his Hawaiian heritage into his writing and art, and published his work locally, regionally, and internationally. Westlake: Poems by Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) includes nearly two hundred of Westlake’s poems—most unavailable to the public or never before published.

“The poems run the whole gamut of emotions . . . and do so with immaculate and measured control of language and imagery . . . [T]his one collection, in my reckoning, establishes Westlake as one of Hawai‘i and the Pacific’s major poets.” —Albert Wendt

Talanoa: Contemporary Pacific Literature
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3067-0 / $17.95 (PAPER)