Island Life
Aug 24 2008


Island life
is not for everyone.

There’s no end of gossip, for one;
although, since the satellite went-up,
people spend too much time at home.
And in spring and fall
when ice gets treacherous
you could go crazy with claustrophobia.
And everything costs too much, of course.

But I like the view.
I like all that water out there
— a kind of moat
keeping the world at bay.
And in just a couple of days
I can circumnavigate this place
— ducking down overgrown paths,
crossing rough shorelines
on smooth slippery rocks.
And a secret beach of fine brown sand;
where the shoes come-off,
curling my toes
in deep penetrating heat.

On the leeward side
the water is glass,
the sun rising in a ball of fire.
And to windward
you can shout your lungs out
and no one will hear a word.
In the centre, there’s a height of land
where all you can see is flat;
360 degrees of sky
touching down.

They call this a hardship post
— isolated, remote.
But I say, they’re just as far from us,
on their own little islands
of self-importance.
While out here, on the margins
we can afford to be more modest.
And we’re content to be ignored.