Written by Annie Wilson
Illustration by Ruby Hinchliffe
My Island (spoken word version)
My Island (written version)
I used to wonder why I clung to boys like islands in between oceans full of mean boys
I used to wonder why I love you sounded like an answered SOS call
A flare which had been seen
Which crackled and exploded
Which was full of life and only used to call other boys because if I explode in the middle of the ocean
Colourful and bright
It doesn’t count if it’s just by myself
I used to wonder why boys looked like big ships with masts and polished decking where I can throw up all the ugly sea water from past trauma
Navigating dating left me calcified and bleached
Sucked colour from me
But I used to wonder why that was
Whether I helped give them the colour
I used to wonder
Why relationships were islands I clung to even though they were fully made from the sharks in the water
A mirage of other mean boys
And I would weep till tsunamis would wash them away
Learnt not to unpack my bag whichever island the waves swept me too
And the waves were mean boys pushing me back into the cruelty like the outskirts of a playground fight
But you and when I say you I mean me
You were a long lost Island in which looked familiar and built for me
You didn’t feel like temporary land
You and I when I saw you I mean me were the reason I went travelling
As if to say I found myself
The reason I took to the seven seas
The Darwinian discovery, expedition destination I was looking for
Curvy small island
but enough
Ripe fruits
White sand
Blue oceans deep I lose myself in it all over again
You were the kind of island that you wouldn’t need to take anything with you for
As if to say that I had everything I was looking for all along
So I burnt my pathetic boat
poured a drink with umbrellas, liquor and cherries to celebrate this
And I’ll lay at your shore forever
Encircled by sand
Waves licking my feet
Set off a flare
Just to watch the colours be swallowed by the sky
This time I see it
And hope no one ever has the audacity to try and save me
About the author
Annie is a 23-year-old spoken word artist who has performed at various events including one sponsored by dating app, Bumble. She is also studying biology at the University of Bristol, where she perfomed in a spoken word duo on the topic of artificial intelligence.
