IMPROMPTU #8: Write Your Island
I once played a game with some friends where we named every island we could think of, back and forth, until one of us stalled. It went on for a while.
I have never lived on an island longterm, but I get a magic poem feeling in my heart when I think about the islands I've visited and loved (or did not love, as the case may be).
I've known many poets to be inspired by islands. My dear friend Joelle Barron has two heartbreakingly beautiful companion poems about Galiano Island (you will be able to read them soon in Joelle's firecracker debut poetry collection Ritual Lights, March 2018).
Another dear friend, Alessandra Naccarato's award-winning poem "Re-Origin of Species" begins with the lines "On our island, nothing / eats us but the rifle."
For my part, I've been unable to stop writing poems about the Big Island in Hawaii.
Write your island. A poem or story; an ode; a longing; a home; a journey; a childhood; a claustrophobic nightmare; a lake; an ocean; a heartbreak.
For further inspiration, read this poem by Roo Borson.