the fealty changing under my foot

My first setting and situation poem is Midsummer by Derek Wolcott, which is on pages 909 and 910 of the Norton.

This poem describes the Americanized aspects of Trinidad from the point of view of someone who lives there. The title of the poem tells the reader that it is midsummer there, a time when there should be a lot of activity and commotion. However, the speaker descibes everything as empty and desolate. Even the ball park (which, in America at least, would be filled at that time of year) stands deserted. The reader would think that Trinidad, a Caribbean island, should be lively and inviting, but the whole scene seems lonely and cold, from "the absent roars/of the beach" to "the gray, metal light" of the morning. The poem uses this irony to highlight its message about America's role in other countries. The waters of the Caribbean sea are somehow "cold as Maine's," once again referencing Aermica and its negative influence (whether literal or figurative). The only things not like this are the airplanes stationed in the hangar, whose sides the light "warms." They are the only things mentioned so far that are not stationary. They can leave the island and are presumable "eager" to do so.

The speaker does not understand illegal immigrants that come to Trinidad, covetous of the American industrialization they have there. The regular interactions of nature, such as the sun bearing down on the sea, now have chemical and destructive qualities. The dreary "drizzle" is even American, eating away at the native sand by "stitching stars" into it. The immigrant "envies" this stamp, this reminder of American presence and affectations in the country, but the speaker fears this change he or she sees as Trinidad's "fealty" becomes more Americanized.