The Distance of a Shout
Selected Poems

In The Distance of a Shout, Michael Ondaatje has assembled some of his finest poems into a singular poetic memoir that invokes the arc of his own journey over fifty years.

“Michael Ondaatje remains our very best poet-turned-novelist. . . . [he] has always observed the world with a balanced mix of delight, awe, and humor, deadly serious about matters of the heart without ever taking himself too seriously.” —Lit Hub

Through poems that grow out of his profound understanding of the subtle complexities of life and relationships, of how we lose and find ourselves, Michael Ondaatje navigates his own past, beginning with memories of distant landscapes, remembrances of his childhood in Sri Lanka and his eccentric family, to his life in rural southern Ontario with its beloved rivers, celebrations of admired fellow travellers and treasured friends, the close ties of children. Ondaatje is one of the great poets of love, and here we follow him through the exhilarations of youth, into that “storm of music” and the passionate swerves of longing and desire, until we reach the calm of that moment when “only a cloud’s reflection holding you up // You swim into late afternoon.”

The Distance of a Shout offers us a glimpse into the life and art of one of our most cherished poets and novelists—a reminder itself of the power of great poetry to shine a light on living.