Mynah Litature

Art by Boz Schurr

[mahy-nuhlit-uh-cher]

—noun

1. An essay by Deleuze and Guattari.

2. In Hawaii, a body of literature referring to the mynah bird, including “Sassy Little Mynah Bird”, “Two coconuts and a mynah bird in one papaya tree”, and this poem.

a. Often written in pidgin.

b. Brought to Hawaii from India to control an infestation of army worms, but ultimately unsuccessful due to a preference for papayas (see above) and mangoes (also from India). Without natural predators, army worms thrive in Mākua Valley, Pōhakuloa, Schofield Barracks, currently occupying 20 percent of available land on O‘ahu; in the Pacific, army worms can also be found in Guam, the Philippines, Okinawa, Japan, and South Korea (formerly of Kaho‘olawe, the Bikini Atolls, and Vietnam).

3. Often composed in a mynah key to convey a deep sense of loss.