Half Starts and Trail Offs

Giving up the accordion: Michael Ondaatje

Apr 08

MeredithPoetry, Reading, Writing 2 Comments

I have not found many writers who can move with ease between genres. Michael Ondaatje does it flawlessly. Everything I have read, from his novels (think The English Patient, Divisadero) to his memoir (Running in the Family) and from his experimental work (The Collected Works of Billy the Kid) to his poetry (The Cinnamon Peeler), I have loved. The richness of his language and the way he weaves his narrative amaze me. So, for today, I’m sharing a couple lines from The Cinammon Peeler.

Two birds loved
in a flurry of red feathers
like a burst cottonball
-from “Application For a Driving Licence”

Women who gave up the accordion because of pinched breasts
-from “Elimination Dance (An Intermission)”

Check out Ondaatje’s bio at Poets.org