Michael Ondaatje is one of my immediate read authors - anything he writes, I will read. This latest collection of poetry does not disappoint, and it was a gentle, nostalgic read. My immediate thoughts after finishing the book, was this felt like an archive of art and memory. (Although one can argue perhaps that is just what an archive is). The poems flow together like the streams, estuaries, and rivers he frequently evokes in this collection. Not only do these poems speak about a journey into the past and memory, but also journey across the globe from Japan, England, Sri Lanka, to the Holland Tunnel in New York and the bus to Fez. Although there is the theme of loss and death and moving beyond, I felt grounded and directed with each poem. Ondaatje guides through his poems by invoking and interspersing his own poems with references to films, music, and other writers. He writes within a larger tradition that traces back thousands of years, his language an echo of the language of others.
I thought this collection to be stunning and provocative in a tender way, imbued with a sense of time and memory and nostalgia. There is a sense of tenderness towards the pass, but also a fear and longing for it. As with his many other wonderful works, this did not disappoint.

From one of the most influential writers of his generation, a surprising poetry collection about memory, history, and the act of looking back.

There were pieces of this collection that I found gorgeous and quite emotionally charged. There were others (enough to outweigh the good) that felt clunky. The prose was so thick, it felt like chewing on a fatty piece of steak that could never be fully digested.

I felt that it was too flowery where it didn't need to be in places. There were also parts that were so uniquely written they immediately evoked feeling.