Richard Hamasaki

In 1979, Native Hawaiian poet Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) published MANIFESTO [for Concrete Poetry], a sardonic and avant-garde three-page poem that challenged the conventions of language and form. Reexamining the roots of Dadaism and the International Concrete Poetry movement of the 1950s, the film transforms text into a living, dynamic force—an interplay of words, sound, and movement that defies traditional narrative constraints.

FOR KAPISIGA PAUL LYONS is dedicated to the beloved and dearly missed University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa English professor Paul Lyons (1958-2018) and showcases a long poem composed and recited by renowned artist and poet John Pule with an original soundtrack by musician Edgar Henderson. Filmed, produced and edited by poet and filmmaker Richard Hamasaki.

In 1979, Native Hawaiian poet Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) published MANIFESTO [for Concrete Poetry], a sardonic and avant-garde three-page poem that challenged the conventions of language and form. Reexamining the roots of Dadaism and the International Concrete Poetry movement of the 1950s, the film transforms text into a living, dynamic force—an interplay of words, sound, and movement that defies traditional narrative constraints.

In 1979, Native Hawaiian poet Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) published MANIFESTO [for Concrete Poetry], a sardonic and avant-garde three-page poem that challenged the conventions of language and form. Reexamining the roots of Dadaism and the International Concrete Poetry movement of the 1950s, the film transforms text into a living, dynamic force—an interplay of words, sound, and movement that defies traditional narrative constraints.

FOR KAPISIGA PAUL LYONS is dedicated to the beloved and dearly missed University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa English professor Paul Lyons (1958-2018) and showcases a long poem composed and recited by renowned artist and poet John Pule with an original soundtrack by musician Edgar Henderson. Filmed, produced and edited by poet and filmmaker Richard Hamasaki.