Poet Michael Foley develops ONE GOOD EAR to listen to his life on the Island of Hawai?i, his home since 2001. This collection celebrates his deepening relationship with the land and its people. Playful and contemplative, the theme of "being present" uses poetry and prose to move through the five senses. The narrator compares his wife's spontaneous dance on the local airport runway to "that contrary motion of the bee." He finds an impenetrable macadamia nut shell hollowed out like a small flute, "by the unseen force or creature." He studies a porcelain shard that evokes a legendary beachcomber who lived in plantation days and the bowl from his ancestral home he might have used, "?cross-hatching all that remains of the blue house?" The heart of the book relates how the narrator finds transformation by joining a kupuna (elder) hula group. When unexpected tragedy occurs he experiences the meaning of the phrase, "hula is life." Hula has prepared him, and Hawai?i itself fills his heart, mind and soul with unconditional love amidst the waves of grief.

The title poem is a turning point in which the narrator swims with his one good ear under the surface, listening. Aloha and mahalo mean love and gratitude in Hawaiian. These are the sentiments the poet extends to Hawai?i and its people in his book, ONE GOOD EAR.