Island Man

Grace Nichols' poems often compare her Guyanese upbringing with her life in Britain. The poem 'island man' is about a man living in London who's thinking about being back home in the Caribbean. The poem celebrates Nichols' Caribbean cultural background and looks at the difficulty of being separated from it. She contrasts "grey" London and the "dull" roar of its traffic with positive images of the "emerald" Caribbean island and the "sound of blue surf". Also the road links with the sea surrounding the island.