A poem from Michael Ondaatje

Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Canada in 1962.  He is the author of The English Patient (for which he received the Booker Prize), In the Skin of a Lion, Coming Through Slaughter, and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.  Currently living in Toronto, Ondaatje's poems explore Sri Lanka's history, mythology, landscape, and personal memories, which weave a rich tapestry of imagery that will have you coming back for more. Below is a poem from his book 'Handwriting'.


To Anuradhapura

In the dry lands

every few miles, moving north,
another roadside Ganesh

Straw figures
on bamboo scaffolds
to advertise a family
of stilt-walkers

Men twenty feet high
walking over fields
crossing the thin road
with their minimal arms
and 'lying legs'

A dance of tall men
with the movement of prehistoric birds
in practice before they alight

So men become gods
in the small village
of Ilukwewa

Ganesh in pink,
                        in yellow,
in elephant darkness

His simplest shrine
a drawing of him

lime chalk
on a grey slate

All this glory
preparing us for Anuradhapura

its night faith

A city with the lap
and spell of a river

Families below trees
around the heart of a fire

tributaries
from the small villages
of the dry zone

Circling the dagoba
in a clockwise hum and chant,
bowls of lit coal
above their heads

whispering bare feet

Our flutter and drift
in the tow of this river