"Tinfish 18 1/2: Poetry Puzzles and Games" edited by Susan M. Schultz; Tinfish Press, 107 pages￿

Through the perceptions of five poets and recent University of Hawai'i-Manoa master's graduates, this newest Tinfish release aims to portray not the Hawai'i of marketing campaigns but the real place known to those who live here now. Kai Gaspar entwines voices and emotions of single mothers and children with the realm of the gods'. Ryan Oishi's verse turns commercial existence, homelessness and development inside out with entrancing subversity. Sage Uilani Takehiro flaunts her versatility with pidgin through hard- and soft-hitting slamlike poetry. Jill Yamasawa's prose poems center on her teaching experiences at McKinley High School, connecting everyday local problems with national and global issues. And Tiare Picard attacks the military's influence, obsessed with the mutilation of language and society's metaphorical boxes. Throughout, puzzles and games entice readers to connect and deconstruct, making plain our own participation in the creation of this portrait — perhaps the book's most remarkable achievement.

"A High and Beautiful Wave" by John Wythe White; Mutual; 320 pages

Built on a platform of revolving life remembrances, John Wythe White's first novel follows college English teacher Oakley's search for life's meaning. Bouncing between vignettes set in the '60s, '70s and 2001, the novel is classic '60s in theme and details — complete with acid trips and war protests. In 2001, Oakley revisits Kaua'i's Taylor Camp, where he'd dodged the draft in the '70s, noting differences in the Islands from a visitor perspective, and in himself. Since White's '70s utopia was also Taylor Camp, the novel has the feel of memoir, but heavy dialogue imparts the cadence of script and the book is more mental journey than straightforward plot. White juggles eras and voices well, his prose taut and confident, but it's a wonder Oakley sees anything beneath his alcohol and pot daze, remaining, like the narrative, anchored in escape, occasional spiritual grounding, and heaps of nostalgia.

"Ha'ena: Through the Eyes of the Ancestors," by Carlos Andrade; UH Press; 158 pages

"Hawaiian Family Album," by Matthew Kaopio; Mutual; 47 pages