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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780679779131
ISBN: 0679779132
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 208
Publication Date: 1997-01-28
Publisher: Vintage
Product Release Date: 1997-01-28
Studio: Vintage

Michael Ondaatje’s new selected poems, The Cinnamon Peeler, brings together poems written between 1963 and 1990, including work from his most recent collection, Secular Love. These poems bear witness to the extraordinary gifts that have won high praise for this truly original poet and novelist.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: One of Ondaatje's Best Poems
Review: I had the opportunity to hear Michael Ondaatje read his poem 'The Concessions' from this book at the Blyth Festival season launch and this poem is very beautiful. Not only is it a connection that is like no other with the area that it was written for. Ondaatje has really gotten into the sprit of the area as he pin points local figures 'the mystic from Millbank' we all knew who these people were that he was pin pointing which was very lovely. I was very pleased to have had the opportunity to have hear that poem that I went out and bought this book right away because of that poem. I recommed that you buy this book there are many other lovely poems but that one 'The Concessions' will forever stand out in my mind.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Beautiful Collection
Review: The wonderful collection of poems that comprise The Cinnamon Peeler were written by Michael Ondaatje during a twenty-year period. They are works of deep intimacy and dazzling beauty.

Not being a poet myself, I enjoy reading Ondaatje's gorgeous poetry to my novelist wife.

More than love poems, these works contain wonderful twists and turns that are both painful and funny. Ondaatje has obviously turned to both Rousseau and Wallace Stevens for inspiration, but he also contributes his own sense of the novel and his awareness of social strata.

This is a charming book, with a muted sense of humor. With The Cinnamon Peeler, Ondaatje takes us deep inside his own mind and heart. It is trip worth making.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: To understand Michael Ondaatje, read his poetry!
Review: Michael Ondaatje knows how to write poetry. Primarily, he is a poet. Secondly a novelist. This collection contains a great variety of poems about day to day life, love, marriage, deep observations about children, humour, history and many more.

My favourite poem is ""To a Sad Daughter" which has a universal appeal. Once, I read this poem to my wife just replacing the poet's daughter's infatuation: ice hockey players with our daughter's hobby. My wife remarked: "Great poem. So you write good poetry too!"

I also like other poems including "The Cinnamon Peeler", "A House Divided", "Women Like You", "Billboards" and "Postcard From Piccadilly Street".

Michael Ondaatje shares his great intimate moments with us including love, his recollection of places and relationships with us. If you want to understand Ondaatje's prose, one must begging with his poetry. For anyone `The Cinnamon Peeler' is an entry into a dark and deep labyrinth painted with human experience. When you come out of it, you'll be a different person.

This book is a one I read over and over again when I'm both sad and happy!

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A wonderful, readable mixture of poems
Review: Michael Ondaatje knows how to mix humor, beauty, sadness, and acute observation together to make lovely works of art. This collection contains a great variety of poetry, from simple and touching observations about his children, to deeply imagined distant moments of wonder. My favorite is "Pure Memory/Chris Dewdney" which actually made me cry twice for two different reasons when I first read it. I will say no more here. "Elimination Dance" is also a fun one to read out loud. "The Cinnamon Peeler" itself is a fantastic love poem. There is so much good stuff in this.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: his train of thought is so complex yet so simple...
Review: I don't have much to say, but I must state my immense admiration for micheal ondaatje and his thought...his way of thinking reminds me of my own, like when he says in one of his poems with no name, "how we moved from thin ceramic to such destruction". I feel such romance and love from almost every single poem, even rat jelly! He doesn't restrict himself to using a certain amount of lines in his stanzas, and there's no rhyming. That makes his poetry more "true" and honest, like all poems should be. His works read rather like a novel and he could probably write a novel for each poem he's written, but they'd all be thrown in together eventually into one book, since they're all in a way connected. I love reading his poetry over and over again, the effect never wears out. I can't remember the name of my favourite poem from this book, but it's simply about him and his wife kicking each other in bed for the covers and the space, and how he says that she got pregnant, he's sure, just so she could get the space...it's such a simple subject that no one else would think of writing about...no other poets that I've read have succeded in being able to pour out their thoughts in a way that I would actually be interested to read them. I applaud you, Micheal Ondaatje...all my love.

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