Poem by Joey Connolly
IN A PIKA FEST DAZE FOR DAYS
Three weeks before Tinian Pika Fest we must
cut and chop plenty of tangantangan trees
to burn and spit roast bulala lechon babui
in weeks before Pika Fest we have to begin to
nightly pumupeska para bai bulala ayuyu
and the first day of Pika Fest who did we see
lao manamko maestro si Pepe Joe Connolly
last night he had been looking at the moon
at gayera he got the nickname Pepe Batbon
the night before last he got todu bulacho
and was driven home by his kayu Joe Camacho
at gayera he usually bets twenty on ‘side short’
Friday he won forty bucks he’s happy to report
‘Hatch vs. Perkins’ which is best? chagi Pika Fest.
(Hatch and Perkins are breeds of fighting roosters.)
Joey “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.
