A Ibert Wendt, the famous Samoan novelist and poet, has been in the Cit izens' Chair at the English Department of the University of Hawai'i since August 2004, having taken a leave of absence from the University of Auck land where he has taught for the past sixteen years. A few months after Al's arrival, I heard from Reina Whaitiri, his partner and the person he calls "the center of my life now," that he was spending most of his free time drawing and painting. She said that the creative muse had taken hold of Al and that he couldn't stop. Their apartment, she said, had evidence of the artist at work on the floor, on the dining table, on the walls, every where! Over subsequent months, I continued to make inquiries about Al's progress and kept hoping that he would soon invite me to see his art. Finally the invitation came: "What are you doing?" he said over the phone. "Would you and Jeannette like to come for morning tea and have a look at the art?" "When?" I asked. "What about ten o'clock today?" On Sunday, 25 April 200y, the day of the phone call, Al and Reina were at the door of their two-bedroom apartment in Manoa Valley, Honolulu, to welcome me and my wife. Al was wearing a brown floral lavalava and yellow T-shirt and looking very relaxed. Reina was her usual warm and friendly self, ushering us inside after a hug and a kiss. Immediately we felt as though we had entered an art gallery. Reina was right—the art had taken over the apartment! More interested in feasting on the art that was watching us from the walls than partaking of the morning tea, we rushed from one painting to another like little children in a toyshop. Our eyes flitted across the room as we tried to see everything at once, as though we feared something might disappear before we had a chance to see it all. Al had outdone himself: the nine canvases he had produced while in Hawai'i