Westlake
Westlake: Poems by Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984)
Wayne Kaumualii Westlake
MEI-LI M. SIY
RICHARD HAMASAKI
Series: Talanoa: Contemporary Pacific Literature
Copyright Date: 2009
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wr0gq
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Book Info
Westlake
Book Description:

In an all-too-brief life and literary career, Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) 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 was born on Maui and raised on the island of O‘ahu, where he attended Punahou School, and later the University of Oregon. He earned his B.A. in Chinese studies at the University of Hawai‘i. At the time of his tragic death in 1984, Westlake was at the height of his poetic career. Unfortunately, the only collection of his poems available at the time was a 32-page, limited edition chapbook independently published by a small press. The present volume, long overdue, includes nearly two hundred of Westlake’s poems—most unavailable to the public or never before published.

eISBN: 978-0-8248-6556-6
Subjects: Language & Literature
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-iv)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. v-ix)
  3. [Illustration]
    [Illustration] (pp. x-x)
  4. Preface
    Preface (pp. xi-xiv)
    Wayne Kaumualii Westlake
  5. Introduction
    Introduction (pp. xv-xxiv)
    Richard Hamasaki

    In an all too brief life and literary career, Wayne Edward Kaumualii Miller Westlake (1947–1984) produced a substantial body of poetry consisting of hundreds of short poems and longer narrative pieces.¹ He broke new ground as a concrete poet, translated Taoist classical literature and Japanese haiku, interwove perspectives from his Hawaiian heritage into his writing and art, and indefatigably published his poetry in small presses and anthologies in Hawai‘i and abroad. When Westlake died in Hilo Hospital on February 16, 1984, at the age of 36, two weeks after his car was struck by an allegedly drunken driver, the...

  6. Westlake—the Poems
    Westlake—the Poems (pp. 1-242)
  7. Afterword: The Poems
    Afterword: The Poems (pp. 243-256)
    Richard Hamasaki

    Wayne Edward Kaumualii Miller Westlake apparently destroyed all of his high school writing and probably most of his work produced while he was a student at the University of Oregon (1966 to circa 1969).¹ That said, Westlake also left hundreds of poems in various states of completion and organization, and this raised problems about how to choose and arrange his work. Long before his death, he had organized his unpublished poetry into various packets and files, some carefully typed and delicately hand-bound. Many of his manuscripts, poems, and drafts were chronologically arranged and gathered into several dozen envelopes and folders....

  8. Acknowledgments
    Acknowledgments (pp. 257-258)
  9. Notes
    Notes (pp. 259-268)
  10. Bibliography of the Publications of Wayne Edward Kaumualii Miller Westlake
    Bibliography of the Publications of Wayne Edward Kaumualii Miller Westlake (pp. 269-277)
  11. Back Matter
    Back Matter (pp. 278-278)
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