Island Man
"Island Man" is a poem by Guyana-born poet Grace Nichols. It is about a Caribbean emigrant who wakes up daily to the sound of crashing waves, only to realise that what he hears is traffic on the North Circular Road in London. 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. The poem alternates long and short lines to suggest waves in the sea.