To say nothing of myself
or the self-contained teen
in the other room, of our place
in vast, fragile space
dwarfed by our sun, dwarfed
by other suns—
but let me tell you of our life
with penguins and potatoes
our southern seasons lonely
off the grid, yet in the global trend
(internet at the café, supply boats
twice a year). We’ve embraced
a taste for our own vodka
for homespun wool. No avoiding
your neighbor at the seaside
or singing below the volcano
though indeed no one knows
how I detest eating lobster
I read this article about Tristan da Cunha, and my imagination ran away just a bit.
That is rather the problem with uninhabited places. They’re usually not worth inhabiting 🙂 At least you’d have penguins for company so you’d be luckier than many.
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From the photos, it does look a forbidding landscape. And the isolation from the world combined with being locked in with the same 264 people…yikes
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That’s where the penguins come in handy.
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So before I went to the article, I was seeing this as a metaphor for parenting teenagers. 🙂 ‘No avoiding … singing under volcanos.’ Perhaps I have just had a long week.:)
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Oh, teenagers are definitely in there. 🙂 And parenting. And just being a self.
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Love this – and the article! I imagine a mix between Ireland and the Galapagos 🙂 You’ve pulled out the details and given a real flavour of the place, I think. I especially like your rebellious final line. Having lived in small towns (ok not that small but still), I can relate to everyone knowing everything except those small details you might manage to keep to yourself. I think the island looks quite beautiful – a bit inbred perhaps, but I’m intrigued.
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I did think of some of those hardly-inhabited Irish islands. I think it must be an interesting balance between comfort and cabin fever. 🙂 Learning about the people themselves would be fascinating.
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