The cinnamon peeler : selected poems

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

If Michael Ondaatje s novels have the compression and power of poetry, his poems read like narratives that have been pared down to their essence. The poems that have been brought together in this electrifying volume are stylish yet endlessly surprising explorations of friendship and passion, family history and personal mythology.

Spanning twenty-seven years and representing the best poems from Ondaatje s hard-to-find earlier collections, The Cinnamon Peeler is a masterpiece of intelligence, wit and an exultant love of language.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Translations Of My Postcards the peacock means order the fighting kangaroos mean madness the oasis means I have struck water positioning of the stamp - the despot's head horizontal, or 'mounted policemen', mean political danger the false date means I am not where I should be when I speak of the weather I mean business a blank postcard says I am in the wilderness

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

TRANSLATIONS OF MY POSTCARDS the peacock means order the fighting kangaroos mean madness the oasis means I have struck water positioning of the stamp -- the despot's head horizontal, or 'mounted policemen', mean political danger the false date means I am not where I should be when I speak of the weather I mean business a blank postcard says I am in the wilderness Excerpted from The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems by Michael Ondaatje All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Ondaatje's witty and elegant poems resemble the whimsical dreamscapes of Rousseau, except that they are tinged with a rueful, sometimes mocking, irony. The poems have the feel of being written in a lonely moonlit kitchen at 2 a.m. in an atmosphere of deeply savored melan (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

These poems, gleaned from Ondaajte's work over the last 20 years, confirm his reputation as a significant, highly original poet. His themes include nature and civilization, the relationship of life and art, friendship and love, and all those things that separate friends and lovers. Ondaajte's images are varied: dogs, moths, snakes, and loons inhabit many of the poems, but there are also allusions to Philoctetes and Henri Rousseau. Ondaajte frequently achieves a powerful effect by juxtaposing disparate images and ideas as in the title of the poem "King Kong Meets Wallace Stevens." Above all, however, he celebrates life's mystery, revealing the wonder inherent in ordinary things. His remarks in "The Gate in the Head" describe his own method: "A blind lover, don't know / what I love till I write it out." The result is "the beautiful formed things caught at the wrong moment / so they are shapeless, awkward / moving to the clear." ~--Bill Gargan