Daniella Reyes

Hawai'i
Coconut Water

Try this coconut water!
Our coconuts are
Delicious
Nutritious
Organic
And non-GMO’d

It is proven to
Boost hydration
Aid operation
Speed metabolism
And ease blood transfusion

Coconut water may cause
Deforestation
Labor exploitation
User manipulation
Fuel utilization
Fact falsification

All this
In just one gulp
I am left with
An afterthought of tropical on my tongue
The Tale of Butter and Mochiko





The Costco General Marshaling Her Troops

Right, we have to get all the foods for the party Saturday
Bobby, go get the hot dogs
Megan, the juice
Jace, honey, you can go get samples after you’ve brought back a whole bag of apples for mommy, ok?
Lloyd oh god we’ve only got an hour here
You gotta go pick up Julia from tennis! Don’t forget.
I mean, I guess I can go get her
Fine, fine, you stay
Oh but don’t forget the cookies we were supposed to get for Megan’s bake sale
No there’s no practice on Wednesday but we have to go get pizzas for the team meeting on Thursday
Did Bobby come back with the hotdogs yet?
What do you mean he’s by the TVs?!

Wait a minute, wait a minute forgot to get toilet paper
Lloyd, honey, could you go grab it?
It’s all the way on the other side of the store
I gotta go get Julia!
Church fundraiser Friday night
Helen’s probably expecting me to bake something
Just pick up the 12-pack of muffins, she can’t tell the difference anyway
Did we forget anything?
I’ll meet you at the checkout counter
Wow you’re right that sample IS amazing
I guess we can go get one of those
Oh my god I FORGOT ABOUT JULIA.





The Soft Drink Giant

Fee, fi, foe, funny
I smell the blood of a third-world country
I’ll take your water and I’ll take your land
Not a leg left on which you can stand
I’ll poison your air and I’ll drink all your water
All to pay for a shareholder’s daughter’s
College education.

I’ll eat and devour
For you have no power
The king’s on my side
And democracy’s a lie
Everyone pays
And you’ll work all your days
Just to “Open Happiness.” (™)

Be you literate, or be you not
Your peaceful protests won’t come to aught
The people that matter live half a world away
How little you are, you have no sway

For I am the Giant of Coca-Cola
And even if you drink Pepsi
You can’t stop me.


Baninnur: A Basket of Food
index
Biography

Daniella Reyes is an undergraduate student in the Department of English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She initially thought she would study the ocean for the rest of her life but realized that she’d prefer writing and reading about it. Growing up in a Filipino-Chinese household, food has always been a major part of her life, from birthday celebrations involving heaping pans of pancit to feasts at Chinese restaurants to celebrate a loved one’s passing. She wishes she could cook more, but since her grandmother rules the kitchen with a plastic spatula, she does not often get the chance. Instead Daniella resigns herself to dreaming of food and then writing about it.




detail of Diasporic Waters - Joy Enomoto - 2014