Pukapuka Poem #38 'Torbay! Torbay! Torbay!' - Michael O'Leary

Torbay! Torbay! Torbay!

It’s around and around goes the bus

Out of sight of the sea

This suburb seems to go on and on

As we walk together to my sister’s house

Along a white concrete path

The white child of my sister

Looks at the dark woman I am with

As though she is a creature

From another island or time –

Afterwards she tells me what I know

So near to the sea, the sound

Is almost there, like inside a shell

And over the bridge inside a bus

We return to the city together

Carelessly we go to dinner or a movie

Next time I go to Torbay I am alone

The same bus, same streets

Same suburban sounds, near the sea

I am in another island or time

And I am alone, like the sound inside a shell