Secular Love

by Michael Ondaatje

Secular Love, an early collection of Ondaatje's poems, is obsessed with art. Ondaatje is said to care more about the relationship between art and nature than any other poet since the Romantics.

Genres: Poetry, Canada

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Philip Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, and essayist, renowned for his contributions to both poetry and prose. He was born in Colombo in 1943, to a family of Tamil and Burgher descent. Ondaatje emigrated to Canada in 1962, where he pursued his education, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts from Queen's University.
Ondaatje’s literary career began in 1967 with his poetry collection The Dainty Monsters, followed by his celebrated The Collected Works of Billy the Kid in 1970. His poetry earned him numerous accolades, including the Governor General’s Award for his collection There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do: Poems 1973–1978 in 1979. He published 13 books of poetry, exploring diverse themes and poetic forms.
In 1992, Ondaatje gained international fame with the publication of his novel The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize and was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. His other notable works include In the Skin of a Lion (1987), Anil’s Ghost (2000), and Divisadero (2007), which won the Governor General’s Award. Ondaatje’s novel Warlight (2018) was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
Aside from his writing, Ondaatje has been influential in fostering Canadian literature. He served as an editor at Coach House Books, contributing to the promotion of new Canadian voices. He also co-edited Brick, A Literary Journal, and worked as a founding trustee of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry.
Ondaatje’s work spans various forms, including plays, documentaries, and essays. His 2002 book The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film earned him critical acclaim and won several awards. His plays have been adapted from his novels, including The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Coming Through Slaughter.
Over his career, Ondaatje has been honored with several prestigious awards. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1988, upgraded to Companion in 2016, and received the Sri Lanka Ratna in 2005. In 2016, a new species of spider, Brignolia ondaatjei, was named in his honor.
Ondaatje’s personal life is also intertwined with his literary pursuits. He has been married to novelist Linda Spalding, and the couple co-edits Brick. He has two children from his first marriage and is the brother of philanthropist Sir Christopher Ondaatje. He was also involved in a public stand against the PEN American Center's decision to honor Charlie Hebdo in 2015, citing concerns about the publication's anti-Islamic content.
Ondaatje’s enduring influence on literature and his ability to blend personal history with universal themes in his writing continue to shape Canadian and world literature.

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Oh, Rilke, I want to sit down calm like you
or pace the castle, avoiding the path of the cook, Carlo,
who believes down to his turnip soup
that you speak the word of the devil.
I want the long lines my friend spoke of
that bamboo which sways muttering
like wooden teeth in the slim volume I have
with its childlike drawing of Duino castle.
I have circled your books for years
like a wave combing
the green hair of the sea
kept it with me, your name
a password in the alley.
I always wanted poetry to be that
but this solitude brings no wisdom
just two day old food in the fridge,
certain habits you would not approve of.
If I said all of your name now
it would be the movement
of the tide you soared over
so your private angel
could become part of a map"

[Craig Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came to Ondaatje by way of the prose-poetic Collected Works of Billy the Kid (which was a huge hit at the commune where I was living) and Coming Through Slaughter and have tracked him with pleasure and admiration through the "mainstream" breakthrough The English Patient--novel's great, hate hate hate the film--and the deeper dives of Divisadora, Anil's Ghost and Warlight.

Coming back to the poetry was a bit of a surprise since I'd forgotten how lyrically clean and for want of a better term un-murky Ondaatje can be. Nature, friendship, difficult loves, music. The arm's length description sounds like conventional lyric, but the experience goes deeper. The collection's arranged into three sequences, some more tightly woven than others; Rock Bottom is hard emotionally but rings absolutely true.

Hard to name favorites and most of the poems are untiled, but I'd flag the ones on pp. 47, 103, 121 and 124 with 26, 64, 77, 95--one of the world's great "father to daughter" poems, 108 (a Bessie Smith poem to pair up with Robert Hayden's Homage to the Empress of the Blues", and 115 are all on about the same very high level.

A sample, "Translation of my Postcards"

the peacock means order
the fighting kangaroos mean madness
the oasis means I have struck water

positioning of the stamp--the despot's head
horizontal or 'mounted policeman,"
mean political danger

the false date means I
am not where I should be

when I speak of weather
I mean business

a blank postcard says
I am in the wilderness.

[K. Spicka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry that makes you remember what it's like to be young and warm and in love and alive. . .

[Theo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but most of it was some nice nature and love poetry that felt like a palette cleanser to my other reading. I do think this book is enhanced if you've read Running in the Family, his memoir, as a lot of these poems were written around the same time. There were a few standouts, like the father-daughter poem, and more of Ondaatje's absurdity in his exploration of sexual and romantic attraction. The nature poems' themes sometimes blended together in delightfully unexpected ways. As I was 1 year old when Secular Love was published, I do think there were some references that I missed.

[Chris Blocker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nice language. Good rhythm. Sometimes the imagery worked for me. Overall, I felt pretty ho-hum about Michael Ondaatje's Secular Love. A few poems were mildly captivating, but otherwise, I wasn't overly impressed.

[Anouk]

beautiful!!! ondaatje really gets into his characters' minds and explores lives and Life like that! an amazingly well written book. POETRY.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 O5841s 1985