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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: ONDAATJE, MICHAEL Matches Found: 124 Ondaatje, Michael Poet's Biography 124 poems available by this author 7 OR 8 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER -- A STOLEN BIOGRAPHY First Line: After her father died they found nine guns in the house. Last Line: I go, stepping forward in my white suit, with a song in my heart A GENTLEMAN COMPARES HIS VIRTUE TO A PIECE OF JADE Poem Text First Line: The enemy was always identified in art by a lion Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon AGATHA CHRISTIE BOOKS BY THE WINDOW First Line: In the long open vancouver island room Last Line: Stretching brain of the bulb %that is dreaming avocado ALL ALONG THE MAZINAW First Line: Later the osprey %falling towards Last Line: Young onto the august %country waters ALL THOSE POETS AS FAMOUS AS KINGS' Poem Text First Line: A woman who journeys to a tryst ALL THOSE POETS AS FAMOUS AS KINGS' First Line: A woman who journeys to a tryst Last Line: The sky lovely with its star Subject(s): Sri Lanka APPLICATION FOR A DRIVING LICENSE First Line: Two birds loved Last Line: I am a good driver, nothing shocks me BEARHUG Poem Text First Line: Griffin calls to come and kiss him goodnight Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips BEARHUG First Line: Griffin calls to come and kiss him goodnight Last Line: Like that, before I came Subject(s): Travel BESSIE SMITH AT ROY THOMSON HALL First Line: At first she refused to sing Last Line: Could not hear us. She could not see us. Then she died again BILLBOARDS First Line: My wife's problems with husbands, houses Last Line: And brought it back to the pen BIOGRAPHY First Line: The dog scatters her body in sleep BIRCH BARK First Line: An hour after the storm on birch lake Last Line: Of water and trees after storm BIRTH OF SOUND First Line: At night the most private of a dog's long body groan Last Line: We're all alone BREAKING GREEN First Line: Yesterday a euclid took trees. Bright green Last Line: Ands tossed it like a river into the grass BREEZE First Line: Nowadays I listen only to duets Last Line: I tie you to me BROTHER THIEF First Line: Four men steal the bronze Last Line: Like a cave of water Subject(s): Sri Lanka BUCK LAKE STORE AUCTION First Line: Scrub lawn Last Line: $10 for the dog %with faded denim eyes BURIED Poem Text First Line: To be buried in times of war Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon BURIED First Line: To be buried in times of war Last Line: But if I had to perish twice? Subject(s): Sri Lanka BURIED 2 Poem Text First Line: We smuggled the tooth of the buddha Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon BURIED 2 First Line: We smuggled the tooth of the buddha Last Line: Could not be found Subject(s): Sri Lanka BURNING HILLS Poem Text First Line: So he came to write again Subject(s): Memory; Writing & Writers BURNING HILLS First Line: So he came to write again Last Line: When he finishes he will go back %hunting for the lies that are obvious Subject(s): Memory; Writing And Writers BUYING THE DOG First Line: He's shy buck mcleish says Subject(s): Family Life CHARLES DARWIN PAYS A VISIT, DECEMBER 1971 First Line: View of the coast of brazil Last Line: It will sink to its feet at our door CINNAMON PEELER First Line: If I were a cinnamon peeler Last Line: I am the cinnamon %peeler's wife. Smell me Subject(s): Love CLAUDE GLASS First Line: He is told about Last Line: He knows where he is CONCESSIONS First Line: Wawanosh. %in the corn of night Last Line: Where someone, holding a mirror %is drawing a picture of herself COUNTRY NIGHT First Line: The bathroom light burns over the mirror Last Line: All night the truth happens DATES First Line: It becomes apparent that I miss great occasions Last Line: And I in my mother's stomach was growing %as were the flowers outside the connecticut windows DEATH AT KATARAGAMA First Line: For half the day blackouts stroke this house into stillness Last Line: Give evrything away for this sound of mud and water, %hooves, great wings Subject(s): Sri Lanka DISTANCE OF A SHOUT First Line: We lived on the medieval coast Last Line: A gradual acceptance of this new language Subject(s): Sri Lanka DIVERSE CAUSES First Line: Three clouds and a tree Last Line: By reflecting her red shoes in it DOG IN SAN FRANCISCO First Line: Sitting in an empty house Last Line: Now I want to be a dog DRIVING WITH DOMINIC IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE WE SEE HINTS OF THE First Line: The tattered hungarian tent Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon DRIVING WITH DOMINIC IN THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE WE SEE HINTS OF THE First Line: The tattered hungarian tent Last Line: Into the grip of another Subject(s): Sri Lanka EARLY MORNING, KINGSTON TO GANANOQUE First Line: The twenty miles to gananoque Last Line: They are shaping new kinds of women ELIMINATION DANCE First Line: Those who are allergic to the sea Last Line: Anyone with pain ELIZABETH First Line: Catch, my uncle jack said Last Line: With white young essex, and my nimble rhymes ESCARPMENT First Line: He lies in bed, awake, holding her left forearm Last Line: Cedar root the way he holds her forearm FARRE OFF First Line: There are the poems of campion I never saw till now Last Line: My eyes are against the ink of campion FIRST RULE OF SINHALESE ARCHITECTURE First Line: Never build three doors Last Line: Into your life Subject(s): Sri Lanka FLIGHT Poem Text First Line: In the half-dark cabin of air lanka flight 5 Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Air Travel; Ceylon FLIGHT First Line: In the half-dark cabin of air lanka flight 5 Last Line: Two hours before reaching katunayake airport Subject(s): Sri Lanka FOR JOHN, FALLING First Line: Men stopped in the heel of sun Last Line: In the dark orgasm of his mouth GATE IN HIS HEAD First Line: Victor, the shy mind Last Line: Moving to the clear GENTLEMAN COMPARES HIS VIRTUE TO A PIECE OF JADE First Line: The enemy was always identified in art by a lion Last Line: Swaying in the darkness above us Subject(s): Sri Lanka GOLD AND BLACK First Line: At night the gold and black slashed bees come Last Line: The dreamer in his riot cell GOODNIGHT First Line: With the bleak heron paris Last Line: That were moving to mountains GREAT TREE First Line: Zou fulei died like a dragon breaking down a wall Last Line: A night without a staircase Subject(s): Sri Lanka GRIFFIN OF THE NIGHT First Line: I'm holding my son in my arms Last Line: Sweating after nightmares HENRI ROUSSEAU AND FRIENDS First Line: In his clean vegetation Last Line: And the slight, careful stepping birds HER HOUSE First Line: Because she has l ived alone, her house is the product of nothing Last Line: To be of knowledge. As if you were a blueprint of your house HERON REX First Line: Mad kings Last Line: As easily as a long fingernail HOUR OF COWDUST First Line: It is the hour we move small Last Line: For the outline of two boats %to collide silently HOUSE DIVIDED First Line: This midnight breathing Last Line: For its inch already HOUSE ON A RED CLIFF Poem Text First Line: There is no mirror in mirissa Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon HOUSE ON A RED CLIFF First Line: There is no mirror in mirissa Last Line: Last footstep before formlessness Subject(s): Sri Lanka IN A YELLOW ROOM First Line: There was another reason for fats waller to record Last Line: Invention of his waltz INNER TUBE First Line: On the warm july river KING KONG MEETS WALLACE STEVENS Poem Text First Line: Take two photographs Subject(s): King Kong; Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955) KING KONG MEETS WALLACE STEVENS First Line: Take two photographs Last Line: The hands drain from his jacket, %pose in the murderer's shadow Subject(s): King Kong; Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955) KISSING THE STOMACH Poem Text Subject(s): Kisses; Love LAST INK Poem Text First Line: In certain countries aromas pierce the heart and one dies Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon LAST INK First Line: In certain countries aromas pierce the heart and one dies Last Line: Leaping and bowing Subject(s): Sri Lanka LATE MOVIES WITH SKYLER First Line: All week since he's been home Last Line: To do for the rest of their lives LETTERS & OTHER WORLDS First Line: My father's body was a globe of fear Last Line: The empty reservoir of bones %the blood searching in his head without metaphor LIGHT First Line: Midnight storm. Trees walking off across the fields in fury Last Line: Haven't moved an inch from me LOOP First Line: My last dog poem Last Line: And parts of him move on MEDIEVAL COAST First Line: A village of stone-cutters. A village of soothsayers Last Line: This wisdom extends no more than thirty miles Subject(s): Sri Lanka MOVING FRED'S OUTHOUSE/GERIATRICS OF PINE First Line: All afternoon (while the empty drive-in Last Line: All afternoon the silent space is turned NEAR ELGINBURG First Line: 3 1.M. On the floor mattress Last Line: Sent by the kingdom of the loon NINE SENTIMENTS First Line: All day desire %enters the hearts of men Last Line: Without the damn god of love? Subject(s): Sri Lanka NINE SENTIMENTS (IX) Poem Text First Line: An old book on the poisons Subject(s): Love - Loss Of NOTES FOR THE LEGEND OF SALAD WOMAN First Line: Since my wife was born PACIFIC LETTER First Line: Now I remember that you rebuilt my chicken coop Last Line: And send it a thousand miles, thinking PALACE First Line: 7 a.M. The hour of red daylight Last Line: The one radio station of udaipur PHILOCTETES ON THE ISLAND First Line: Sun moves broken in the trees Last Line: Then they smell me %the beautiful animals PIG GLASS First Line: Bonjour. This is pig glass Last Line: Determined histories of glass PROUST IN THE WATERS First Line: Swimming along the bar of moon Last Line: On the edge %of the moon bar PURE MEMORY/CHRIS DEWDNEY First Line: On a b.C. Radio show the man asked me, coffee half way up Last Line: He is 23 years old. He does. Africa asia australia upside down %earthquake RAT JELLY First Line: See the rat in the jelly Last Line: Thinking of the fridge, thinking of you RED ACCORDION -- AN IMMIGRANT SONG First Line: How you and I talked! Last Line: All the way from virginia RIVER NEIGHBOUR First Line: All these rumours. You lodge in the mountains Last Line: Somewhere in the east ROCK BOTTOM First Line: 2 a.M. The moonlight %in the kitchen Last Line: How, however briefly, bedraggled %history %focuses SALLIE CHISUM/LAST WORDS ON BILLY THE KID 4 A.M. First Line: The moon hard and yellow where billy's head is Last Line: In his stupid eyes SIGNATURE First Line: The car carried him Last Line: O world, I shall be buried all over ontario SIYABASLAKARA First Line: In the 10th century, the young princess Last Line: Under the rain of her hair Subject(s): Sri Lanka STEP Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The ceremonial funeral structure for a monk Subject(s): Funerals; Monks; Sri Lanka; Burials; Ceylon STEP First Line: The ceremonial funeral structure for a monk Last Line: Where there was worship, lighter air Subject(s): Funerals; Monks; Sri Lanka STORY First Line: For his first forty days a child Last Line: Into the darkness of the night Subject(s): Sri Lanka SWEET LIKE A CROW First Line: Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pushed Last Line: And someone walked through my room in ankle bracelets TAKING First Line: It is the formal need Last Line: Till they become a spine THE BROTHER THIEF Poem Text First Line: Four men steal the bronze Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Religion; Robbery; Ceylon THE CINNAMON PEELER Poem Text First Line: If I were a cinnamon peeler Subject(s): Love THE DISTANCE OF A SHOUT Poem Text First Line: We lived on the medieval coast Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE FIRST RULE OF SINHALESE ARCHITECTURE Poem Text First Line: Never build three doors Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE GREAT TREE Poem Text First Line: Zou fulei died like a dragon breaking down a wall Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE MEDIEVAL COAST Poem Text First Line: A village of stone-cutters. A village of soothsayers Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE NINE SENTIMENTS Poem Text First Line: All day desire / enters the hearts of men Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE SIYABASLAKARA Poem Text First Line: In the 10th century, the young princess Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE STORY Poem Text First Line: For his first forty days a child Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon THE TIME AROUND SCARS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: A girl whom I have not spoken to Subject(s): Scars TIME AROUND SCARS First Line: A girl whom I've not spoken to Last Line: That never occurred between us TIN ROOF First Line: You stand still for three days Last Line: Of pain loneliness deceit and vanity TO A SAD DAUGHTER Poem Text First Line: All night long the hockey pictures Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters TO A SAD DAUGHTER First Line: All night long the hockey pictures Last Line: Dreams perhaps %of gentleness TO ANURADHAPURA Poem Text First Line: In the dry lands Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon TO ANURADHAPURA First Line: In the dry lands Last Line: In the tow of this river Subject(s): Sri Lanka TRANSLATIONS OF MY POSTCARDS First Line: The peacock means order Last Line: I am in the wilderness USWETAKEIYAWA First Line: Uswetakeiyawa. The night mile Last Line: The smell of a dog losing its shape VAULT First Line: Having to put forward candidates for god Last Line: When we fall from her room of flowers WALKING TO BELLROCK First Line: Two figures [or, their frames] in deep water Last Line: Following the easy fucking stupid plot to town WARS First Line: Dusk in colombo Last Line: The waters against him WE'RE AT THE GRAVEYARD First Line: Stuart sally kim and I Last Line: Sally of the bautiful bones %pregnant below stars WELLS Poem Text First Line: The rope jerked up Subject(s): Sri Lanka; Ceylon WELLS First Line: The rope jerked up Last Line: Out of the depth Subject(s): Sri Lanka WELLS II Poem Text First Line: The last sinhala word I lost Subject(s): Language; Childhood Memories; Farewell; Loss; Water; Words; Vocabulary; Parting WHAT WERE THE NAMES OF THE TOWNS Poem Text Subject(s): Driving & Driving; Love WHEN YOU DRIVE THE QUEENSBOROUGH ROADS AT MIDNIGHT First Line: Do not look at a star Last Line: Touch only reflections WHITE DWARFS First Line: This is for people who disappear Last Line: After such choreography what would they wish to speak of anyway WOMEN LIKE YOU Poem Text First Line: They do not stir Subject(s): Love WOMEN LIKE YOU First Line: They do not stir Last Line: So talk to me %of the used heart Subject(s): Love |
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