Island Man

"Island Man" is a poem by Guyana-born poet Grace Nichols.^[1] It is about a Caribbean emigrant who wakes up daily to the sound of crashing waves ("blue surf / in his head"), only to realise that what he hears is traffic on the North Circular Road in London ("to surge of wheels / to dull North Circular roar").^[1][2] The poem pivots on the phrase "his small emerald island", symbolising both where he came from, as well as where he now lives in the rainy British Isles.^[2] The poem alternates long and short lines to suggest waves in the sea.^[3]