Kalamaku Press announces the publication of From the Spider Bone Diaries: Poems and Songs by Richard Hamasaki, a resident of Kaneohe, Hawaii. This collection of previously published and unpublished poetry and song lyrics represents 25 years of Hamasaki’s literary achievements. Like a collage of moving images, From the Spider Bone Diaries: Poems and Songs provides a visual as well as a literary and lyrical feast.

Hamasaki provides vibrant images from personal experiences viscerally drawn from his travels in Asia, Europe, Oceania, the continental United States, and of course Hawaii. A journey of poetic verve and creative ingenuity, Spider Bone Diaries also documents Hamasaki’s literary activity and publishing achievements in Hawaii and abroad. His book includes substantial endnotes which give life, intimacy, and an exciting sense of literary history and cultural perspectives to his poems.

Hamasaki, a self-described "cultural activist," has been involved in Hawaii's literary scene since 1974. He taught in the Hawaii Poets in the Schools Program and is the former publisher and co-editor of a literary magazine, Seaweeds and Constructions (1976-1984). In 1981, the late poet Wayne Westlake (1947-1984) and Hamasaki co-founded and taught a course, presently titled "Ethnic Literature of Hawaii," at the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus. Hamasaki has taught English at several public schools, and currently teaches secondary English at Kamehameha Schools. His poetry has been released on audio cassettes and CDs: Most Powerful Nation (1989); Hawaii Reggae International, Vol. I (1991); and virtual fleality (1996). In 1998, he co-produced, with musician, author, and producer H. Doug Matsuoka, Electric Laulau featuring poetry in Pidgin English by Joe Balaz. Hamasaki and Matsuoka’s fifth recording, Terenesia, features the "amplified poetry" of Teresia Teaiwa and Sia Figiel, of Aotearoa and Samoa, respectively.

[From the Spider Bone Diaries can be ordered from Native Books Hawaii]