"Cruising at thirty thousand feet above the endless green"

The persona is flying above the lush greenery and foliage of the country below. This provides us with
some visual imagery.

"The islands seem like dice tossed on a casino's baize, some come up lucky , others not. Puerto Rico
wins the pot."

To compare the islands to dice tossed on a baize, the poet employs the simile "islands seem like dice
tossed on a casino's baize" (this is the soft velvet fabric used on pool tables and card tables). This is used
to demonstrate not only the small and insignificant size of the islands when viewed from above, but also
the way in which each Caribbean island prospers.

Puerto Rico appears to have won this dice game. The poet writes, “Puerto Rico takes the pot,” implying
that, like in poker, the winner takes all of the money wagered.

“the Dallas of the West Indies, silver linings on the clouds as we descend are hall-marked”

The poet reinforces the idea of Puerto Rico being an extremely prosperous and wealthy standout
among the Caribbean islands by comparing it to Dallas, a city in the oil-rich state of Texas.

The poet also uses the cliché "every cloud has a silver lining" to emphasize that the island is prosperous
and a place of great economic opportunity (unlike some of its fellow Caribbean islands).

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

Using simile, the poet compares San Juan to a maverick's gold ring. The term "maverick" implies an
outsider. In this way, Puerto Rico is distinguished from the other islands in the region. San Juan, Puerto
Rico is in the Caribbean, but it is not the same as the other islands because it is owned by the United
States.

"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 claims to have 'collected terminals' as they traveled across the Caribbean. He uses a simile
to compare airports to calling cards, implying that each country's airport, like a calling card, provided
them with information about the country as a whole. The airport's quality would be a concise
representation of the country's socioeconomic state. The poet also refers it to the airports as 'cultural
fingermarks,' because they all have distinct features that relate to the island's larger cultural landscape.
He claims that the signs were handwritten rather than printed in Haiti, that the art was created solely for
tourist consumption in Trinidad, and that the baggage handlers in Antigua were slow, full of contempt,
and unwilling to do their jobs. All of this contrasts with the 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...'
As they descend, the pilot (likely a southern American based on the word 'drawl') instructs everyone who
isn't landing in San Juan to stay on the plane rather than exploring the airport. The speaker now employs
sarcasm, stating how'subtle' Uncle Sam (metonym for the United States) tries to be by masking their
discrimination with regulation. This regulation basically states that you are not permitted to set foot on
Puerto Rican soil if it is not your intended port of disembarkation. The character is disgusted with
Americans for being so prejudiced.He believes that the US is only concerned about an influx of 'desperate
blacks,' i.e. Caribbean people seeking economic opportunities will undermine the prosperity of the island.

With 'island of the free,' the poet also makes a pun. 'Land of the free and home of the brave,' says the
national anthem of the United States. The poet employs a wordplay here to reinforce the idea that Puerto
Rico belongs to America. This could also be interpreted as irony, because it is ironic that the poet refers to
Puerto Rico as a "island of the free" while subtly implying that it is not truly free and is owned by the
United States. His use of the word 'free' also suggests that Puerto Rico is free in comparison to the other
Caribbean islands simply because of its wealth.
According to the persona, the US is concerned that too many desperate blacks will jump the fence around
America’s backyard and ‘claim that vaunted sanctuary.’ This line refers to a phrase used in former US
President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 speech about anti-American regimes in the Caribbean and Latin
America. He stated that the establishment of such governments in America’s backyard would be
unacceptable to the US government.

“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,”
The persona notices the differences between Puerto Rico and the other islands as he looks out the plane's
toughened windows. The patrol cars and baggage trucks move with 'ferocious efficiency,' demonstrating
that the workers work with military-like severity and precision (unlike the lethargic St. Johns baggage
boys). They are quickly back in the air, so their efficiency appears to be a means of getting them out of
their country as soon as possible.
"low above the pulsing city streets; galvanised shanties overseen by condominiums, polished
Cadillacs shimmying past Rastas with pushcarts"
The persona can now see the contrast between his first impressions based on appearance and the reality
that would have gone unnoticed at a higher altitude while still in the plane, which is still low above the
streets. He can now see the differences between wealth and poverty in San Juan, with shanties in small
towns being overlooked by lush condominiums and pristine 'shimmying' past Rastas with pushcarts (this
suggests a skittish avoidance of the Rastas because of their poverty). The Rastas are contrasted with
owners of expensive Cadillacs and condominiums who are at the top of the economic food chain and can
show off their obscene wealth.

“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.”

This clear, perceptive realization that Puerto Rico’s glittering golden maverick ring is only fool’s gold,
that reality is far different from appearance, reminds the persona of a shattered TV “that’s fallen off the
back of a lorry.” This is similar to the idiom “to fall off the back of a lorry,” which means “to come into
someone’s possession through illegal or dubious means, usually stealing.” As seen in the simile ‘the roads
like twisted wires,’ the visual imagery created by the broken television comparison depicts a confusing
tangle of roads and streets.

"It’s sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to someone else."
The persona concludes his remarks about the island here. He considers the tangle of American and Puerto
Rican cultures, as well as the depiction of prosperity and poverty, to be dangerous. Puerto Rico appears to
be a prosperous modern country from a distance, or even from an altitude, but upon closer inspection, the
island is not so desirable after all. Puerto Rico has been reduced to a shattered television set; it is broken,
and whoever has it has stolen property.