A statement of resolve and determination to reconnect to heritage.
WORDS AND ART Cheyenne Muscovich
“Stagnant Patch,” digital painting. White hands threaten to pull a wilted and damaged kalo (taro) plant in muddy, stagnant water, against the backdrop of a cityscape with mountains, skyscrapers, and a plane.
I’m regrowing my tongue
Yet still it is cut
The field gets watered
but the water is dirty
It was used to wash
the guilt of others’ pasts
I’m regrowing my body
It is stunted
from the stagnant water
It is no longer mine
replaced but still
doesn’t flow
I reach out to be nourished
I become food
My kōhina remains
About the Poem
My name is Cheyenne. I am a Kanaka Maoli born and raised in Chumash, Tongva, Kizh, and Yokuts land and currently living on Yokuts land, in what is now known as the Central Valley in California. I’m primarily a visual artist. I grew up knowing I was Kanaka on one side, with as much connection as my immediate family could manage, and that I was descended from other tribes on the other side but with nearly no connection. I have spent much of my teens and adulthood trying to find various ways to learn and reconnect as much as I am able to.
This poem reflects the trials of connecting to my Kanaka heritage outside of the ʻaina (Hawaiian Islands) in spite of that heritage being so fetishized, misused, and colonized in both our physical and spiritual spaces.
This poem reflects the trials of connecting to my Kanaka heritage outside of the ʻaina (Hawaiian Islands) in spite of that heritage being so fetishized, misused, and colonized in both our physical and spiritual spaces. It is also a statement of resolve and determination to continue in my journey to reconnect and learn to the best of my ability despite the barriers. It’s about the resilience to keep growing and regrowing regardless of these barriers. Like the kōhina — the part of the kalo (taro) plant from where the corm (the underground tuber) attaches to the stem — if this part remains, a connection or a reconnection can be grown.
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Cheyenne Muscovich, a Kanaka Maoli living on Yokuts land in the present-day Central Valley of California, is primarily a visual artist, but very occasionally also writes poetry.
