If Michael Ondaatje's novels have the compression and power of poetry, his poems read like narratives that have been pared down to their essence. The poems that have been brought together in this electrifying volume are stylish yet endlessly surprising explorations of friendship and passion, family history and personal mythology. Spanning twenty-seven years and representing the best poems from Ondaatje's hard-to-find earlier collections, The Cinnamon Peeler is a masterpiece of intelligence, wit and an exultant love of language.