Cruising at thirty thousand feet above the endless green

the islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize,

some come up lucky, others not. Puerto Rico takes the pot,

the Dallas of the West Indies, silver linings on the clouds

as we descend are hall-marked, San Juan glitters

like a maverick’s gold ring.

All across the Caribbean

we’d collected terminals – airports are like calling cards,

cultural fingermarks; the hand-written signs at Portau-Prince, Piarco’s sleazy tourist art, the lethargic

contempt of the baggage boys at ‘Vere Bird’ in St. Johns…

And now for plush San Juan.

But the pilot’s bland,

you’re safe in my hands drawl crackles as we land,

“US regulations demand all passengers not disembarking

at San Juan stay on the plane, I repeat, stay on the plane.”

Subtle Uncle Sam, afraid too many desperate blacks

might re-enslave this Island of the free,

might jump the barbed

electric fence around ‘America’s

back yard’ and claim that vaunted sanctuary… ‘Give me your poor…’

Through toughened, tinted glass the contrasts tantalise;

US patrol cars glide across the shimmering tarmac,

containered baggage trucks unload with fierce efficiency.

So soon we’re climbing,

low above the pulsing city streets;

galvanised shanties overseen by condominiums

polished Cadillacs shimmying past Rastas with pushcarts

and as we climb, San Juan’s fool’s glitter calls to mind

the shattered innards of a TV set that’s fallen

off the back of a lorry, all painted valves and circuits

the roads like twisted wires,

the bright cars, micro-chips

It’s sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to someone else.

Summary

An airplane makes a stopover flight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The man on the flight talks about Puerto Rico being different from the other countries of the Caribbean he had stopped in. He laments that the United States fears the poorer people of the Caribbean stowing away illegally in the country. As the plane climbs above the streets of San Juan, he points to the contrasts in the city. He notes shanties and condominiums representing poverty and wealth. This speaks to the ‘dual reality’ of the country and economical segregation within Puerto Rico itself and in the Caribbean. He notes that Puerto Rico is a ‘fools-glitter,’ because of the rich look that is visible at a first glance, but that the country has serious underlying issues. The poem ends with the powerful remark that Puerto Rico’s dangerous clash of cultures and dualistic reality only belongs to the USA.

Mood

Sarcastic

Tone

Bitter or Resenting

Themes

Oppression

Discrimination

Analysis

“Cruising at thirty thousand feet above the endless green”

The persona uses visual imagery to give the readers a look of the lush greenery and foliage of the country.

“the islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize, some come up lucky, others not. Puerto Rico takes the pot,”

The poet uses a simile “islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize,” to compare the islands to dice tossed on a baize (the soft velvet fabric used on pool tables and card tables). This shows the small size of the islands from an airplane as well as the way in which the wealth of each Caribbean Island seems to be up to chance. The poet says that “Puerto Rico takes the pot,” and this shows that Puerto Rico had won in terms of prosperity.

“the Dallas of the West Indies, silver linings on the clouds”

The poet uses an allusion to compare Puerto Rico to Dallas, a city in the oil rich state of Texas. With this comparison, the poet concretizes the idea that Puerto Rico is prosperous and affluent and that the country stands out from the other Caribbean islands. The poet alludes to the connection between the United States acquiring Puerto Rico in 1898 and the USA’s capturing of Texas from Mexico in 1845. By doing this, the poet connects the success of Texas and Puerto Rico. The poet uses the cliché of ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ to reinforce the point that the island is wealthy, and that it is a place for economic opportunities (unlike some of its fellow Caribbean islands).

“San Juan glitters like a maverick’s gold ring.”

The poet uses a simile to compare San Juan to a maverick’s gold ring which is synonymous with someone who is an outsider, or a non-conformist. Therefore, Puerto Rico is presented as completely different from the other islands in the region. San Juan, Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean but is not the same as the other islands because it belongs to the USA.

“All across the Caribbean we’d collected terminals – airports are like calling cards, cultural fingermarks; the hand-written signs at Port-au-Prince, Piarco’s sleazy tourist art, the lethargic contempt of the baggage boys at ‘Vere Bird’ in St. Johns… And now for plush San Juan.”

The persona notes they had ‘collected terminals’ as they travelled through the Caribbean. The persona also uses simile to compare these airports to calling cards and implies that the airport of each country gives visitors general information about the country. The quality of the airport gives an idea of the socioeconomic situation that exists in other parts of the country. These airports are ‘cultural fingermarks,’ because they have unique qualities that show the cultural landscape of the island. He notes the hand-written signs in Haiti, the artwork in Trinidad was produced mainly for tourist use, and the baggage handlers in Antigua were slow and held contempt and reluctance while doing their jobs. He compares these three other islands to the luxury of San Juan.

“But the pilot’s bland, you’re safe in my hands drawl crackles as we land, ‘US regulations demand all passengers not disembarking at San Juan stay on the plane, I repeat, stay on the plane.‘

This would suggest that the United States believe that many desperate blacks might re-enslave this Island of the free, and that they might attempt to jump the barbed electric fence around ‘America’s back yard’ and claim that sanctuary in Puerto Rico.

… ‘give me your poor…’

As they landed in Puerto Rico, the pilot who is likely from the southern states of American because of word ‘drawl’ emphasizes that everyone who is not coming off in San Juan should remain on the plane instead of trying to explore the airport. The speaker takes on sarcasm now, stating how ‘subtle’ Uncle Sam (which is a metonym for the United States) has attempted to disguise their discrimination against the blacks with the regulation that no one should leave the plane if Puerto Rican is not the intended destination. Here, the persona shows his disgust with the Americans because they are prejudiced. He states his belief that the US is only fearful that an influx of ‘desperate blacks,’ (Caribbean people) would search for economic opportunities in Puerto Rico and thereby undermine the prosperity of the island. The poet also uses a pun here with ‘island of the free.’ The line ‘Land of the free and home of the brave’ comes from the US national anthem and reinforces the idea that Puerto Rico belongs to America. This is ironic as the poet believes that Puerto Rico is an ‘island of the free’ while suggesting that it is not truly free because it is owned by the US. He also uses ‘free’ to compare Puerto Rico to the other Caribbean islands simply because of its affluence.

The lines also hold historical allusions as the US fears too many desperate blacks enter US territories through their backyard and ‘claim that vaunted sanctuary.’ This alludes to former US president Ronald Reagan’s speech on anti-American regimes in the Caribbean and Latin America in the 1980’s. He said that the United States government would not tolerate the organization of such governments in America’s backyard. The final part of the line displays bitterness or disgust as the persona uses the phrase “give me your poor.” This is a quote from the poem New Colossus by Emma Lazarus and can be seen on the Statue of Liberty. The full line states “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The poem would suggest that the US is a humanitarian haven and one that welcomes the marginalized people of the world. But in Puerto Rico, those people on the flight are barred from entering Puerto Rico’s soil. This suggests that these ‘American ideals’ are not realized there.

“Through toughened, tinted glass the contrasts tantalise; US patrol cars glide across the shimmering tarmac, containered baggage trucks unload with fierce efficiency. So soon we’re climbing,”

As the persona looks through the toughened and tinted windows of the airplane, he sees the differences between Puerto Rico and the other islands. The US patrol cars and baggage trucks move swiftly and with clear ‘fierce efficiency.’ This reveals that the workers are moving with the military-like severity and precision which is different from the slow baggage boys in St. Johns. The plane takes off quickly and the tourists are back in the air. This reflects their efficiency as well as the need to get them out of their country as quickly as possible.

“low above the pulsing city streets; galvanised shanties overseen by condominiums, polished Cadillacs shimmying past Rastas with pushcarts”

Although the persona is now in the plane and in the air, he can observe the difference between his first impressions based on appearance and the reality that would have gone unnoticed at a higher altitude. There is the disparity between prosperity and poverty within San Juan based on his views of the shanties in small towns being overlooked by lush condominiums, and the pristine Cadillacs ‘shimmying’ past these Rastafarians with their pushcarts. The shimmying Cadillacs going past the Rastas suggests that affluent in society do not acknowledge the issue of poverty. The Rastas are juxtaposed with the owners of expensive Cadillacs and condominiums who flaunt their material wealth because of their position in society.

“and as we climb, San Juan’s fool’s glitter calls to mind the shattered innards of a TV set that’s fallen off the back of a lorry, all painted valves and circuits the roads like twisted wires, the bright cars, micro-chips.”

There is a clear and sober reality that the glittering golden maverick ring of Puerto Rico is only fool’s gold. The persona suggests that the reality of the conditions in Puerto Rico is much different from the appearance that visitors get. This reminds the persona of a shattered TV ‘that’s fallen off the back of a lorry.’ This also relates to the idiom ‘to fall off the back of a lorry,’ which means to come into someone’s possession by illegal or dubious means, usually stealing. The visual imagery created by the broken television is one that shows a confusing tangle of roads and streets as seen in the simile ‘the roads like twisted wires.’

“It’s sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to someone else.”

The persona makes his final remarks about the island. He refers to the confusion of American culture and Puerto Rican culture; and the juxtaposition of prosperity and penury to be dangerous. From the air Puerto Rico looks like a prosperous modern country, but the island is not so attractive after all. Puerto Rico is reduced to a shattered television set; it is broken and whoever has this it has received stolen property.