When I read "The English Patient" back in high school, I remember thinking that Ondaatje's writing was much more lyrical than most novelists', and the intensely beautiful language of these poems confirms that view. He has such a light touch, and this ideally complements his intimate subject matter. The fact that most of the poems are set in his native Sri Lanka makes them even more intriguing and adds to the airy feel of the words. While I enjoyed many of the pieces in this volume, by far my favorite is "The Story." It weaves an ancient legend in with the writer's current life and examines the role of memory in making sense of what we know.

The Distance Of a Shout

"We lived on the medieval coast
south of warrior kingdoms
during the ancient age of the winds
as they drove all things before them.

Monks from the north came
down our streams floating—that was
the year no one ate river fish.

There was no book of the forest,
no book of the sea, but these
are the places people died.

Handwriting occurred on waves,
on leaves, the scripts of smoke,
a sign on a bridge along the Mahaweli River.

A gradual acceptance of this new language."


except from Death At Kataragama

"There is a woodpecker I am enamoured of I saw this morning through my binoculars. A red thatch roof to his head more modest than crimson, deeper than blood. Distance is always clearer. I no longer see words in focus. As if my soul is a blunt tooth. I bend too close to the page to get nearer to what is being understood. What I write will drift away. I will be able to understand the world only at arm’s length.

Can my soul step into the body of that woodpecker? He may be too hot in sunlight, it could be a limited life. But if this had been offered to me today, at 9 a.m., I would have gone with him, traded this body for his."

Beautiful beautiful...reminded me of South India...

A beautiful and strange collection. I found some of these poems stunning, while others were completely beyond me.

Will be stamping this segment of a poem on my tombstone:

I hold you the way astronomers
draw constellations for each other
in the markets of wisdom

placing shells
on a dark blanket
saying “these
are the heavens”

calculating the movement
of the great stars

Ondaatje is a brilliant technician. I just didn't feel much of an emotional connection to most of the poems ("The Great Tree" and "The Story" excepted).

Poetry is like that. It's so personal that, though one can identify the technical aspects that succeed or don't, it's awfully hard to predict what will have that deep emotional resonance.

Or at least, that's how I feel today.

3.5/5

Some lovely writing, however I struggled to be engaged by some poems.

ondaatje overwhelms the senses, in the best of ways - i think i will always choose his words to usher in the new year.

4.5 rating

The title says it all. These poems are as personal as someone’s handwriting. Culturally and emotionally at times inscrutable to the reader, but that’s what I love about it. Lyrical, really incredible words and rhythm, in tight little patterns, that read so well in your questioning voice on a quiet night in a bubblebath, which I did :)

You cannot really project too much on to what Ondaatje hides alluringly from you, I think - so you are left just to behold the poetry's patent beauty and value. Then there are clear glimpses of deep truth that seize you. Ondaatje gives but keeps himself and his history safe. Handwriting is a beautiful way to travel Sri Lanka, the cryptic history of ancient monks and South East Asia. Whole books could spring out of these poems of love, lives and traditions.

Poems live forever for me and a books of poems is a reference. A guide to living; rough suggestions of understanding. They are never finished. I mean you would never say you finished the dictionary. So I can't wait to dip back into this again and again.

Certainly recommend. It lost a half star because I wanted moar!

I love him as a novelist. This was my first try for his poetry. I think part of the reason I didn't connect with them is because they were exclusively about Sri Lanka: the place, traditions, etc. Since I don't really have context for the topic, the poems then did not resonate.

My first Ondaatje, looking forward for more. Lots (if not most) of the poems were lost on me as this is my first Sri Lankan text.

Beautiful poems.

You can hear my thoughts on this collection here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qX_9...