October Poetry Prompt 2 - Islands

I spent last weekend at the Poetry on the Lake Festival at Orta San Giulio in Italy, a place to fall in love with. Here's a shot of the Isla San Giulio in the middle of Lake Orta:



taken from the Piazza Motta:



where you can sit and eat and drink and people watch from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. Just my kind of place!

The island's a very short ferry ride away and the ferry captains take you around the tiny island before landing at the steps leading to the Basilica. There are currently seventy nuns living on the island which made me think how islands are often thought of as places of retreat. On the other hand, islands can also be places of abandonment.

What does the word 'island' mean to you? Brainstorm for associations, ideas and references and see what arises. The challenge is to write a poem that makes some kind of reference to an island, literally or metaphorically.

Good luck.