Tag Archives: Canadian Literature

BOOKS: “A Year of Last Things” by Michael Ondaatje

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A Year of Last Things: PoemsA Year of Last Things: Poems by Michael Ondaatje
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Release Date: March 19, 2024

This collection consists of free verse and prose poems, largely of an autobiographical nature (or presented as such.) A number of these autobiographical poems are at once travel poems, tales from the author’s visits to various countries.

While Ondaatje is more well-known for his critically acclaimed novels (e.g. “The English Patient” and “Anil’s Ghost,”) he’s not new to the poetic artform. The poems in this volume are clever, readable, nicely paced, and interesting. I enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it for poetry readers.

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In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

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5 
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
 Between the crosses, row on row,
      That mark our place; and in the sky
      The larks, still bravely singing, fly
  Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
  We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
       Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
          In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
   To you from failing hands we throw
       The torch; be yours to hold it high. 
       If ye break faith with us who die
    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.