The poetry of Michael Ondaatje begins in memory: distant landscapes, myths from childhood, fleeting interactions with loved ones, and characters from history itself. In poems that are spare as often as they are fable-like--as tender as they are heart-wrenching--the poet navigates the past, looks toward the future, and unearths inevitable truths about the world.

Assembling Michael Ondaatje's finest poems in one brilliant volume, The Distance of a Shout chronicles the poet's journey--moving book to book, moment to moment, border to border--and leads the reader through the threshold of discovery itself. The Distance of a Shout is a profound and gorgeous collection by an indispensable poet of our time, and proof of why miraculous poetry endures.