Danicia Honda

Hawaii Review Creative Nonfiction

Mahmoud Darwish: You understand that death doesnt hurt the
dead, it only hurts the living. (In the Presence of Absence)
They told everyone that he died of asphyxiation. He was found one
(night) by his (neighbor), an aging man of forty. Until then, the man
had never seen a dead body, nor did he go around looking for dead
bodies to find. The poor boy of twenty, who hadnt been out of high
school for more than a year, whose lifeless face still glistened with
remnants of life, whose body so strong, so weak lay limp on the
cold tile.
He had such a promising life ahead of him, the man lamented, as
did everyone else. Only the