Island Games
Our ancestors might have encouraged ghosts
from empty islands to take part
in an endless range of sports.
Certain they would never fall or slip,
St Kildans would practice their high jumps
by leaping from the steep heights of each cliff.
There were souls from Ille de la Manche
who skipped between some empty Channel Isles
in a continuous football match
while those from Stroma cultivated skills
in swimming by diving every morning
within the Swelkie’s giant skirls
and the folk of Hildasay stood alone
as they practiced for the discus throw
by hurling quarry-stones.
An endless range of apparitions. Near Faroe. Beside Greenland,
Saaremaa to Cayman, Menorca, St Helena,
phantoms and doppelgängers take a route long planned
to Stromness, Kirkwall and Pickaquoy
to show the skills those spectres from empty
islands have long had at their spirited command.
Responses
So, the Island Games are a strange thing — a coming-together of like-minded folk, from similar, yet different backgrounds, cultures and history for a common purpose — competing. Most of it will be friendly, some of it ferocious. But in the pubs and bars at night, as drink flows and new friendships are formed those battles will be forgotten, even if only temporarily — until the next day, until the next Island Games when it all happens again, in another place, in another age.
– Response from CH Orkney