Ondaatje Response...by me!

In focusing on the formation of Michael Ondaatje’s collection, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, I am left with both inquisitiveness and amazement at the accomplishments of the works. Ondaatje introduces his collection with an empty frame over an italicized description of an unseen picture. Initially, this opening passage filled me with curiosity. The are several references to unidentified things, “the Perry shutter,” “Pyro,” the horses, etc. The frame and caption give explanation to and represents the pictures and specimen the reader finds throughout the book both figuratively and literally. To better understand the purpose of Ondaatje’s introduction, I compared it to that of a movie introduction. If this collection were a movie, the caption would be read while soft music plays in the background as the camera spans across various pictures soon to be encountered in context. Then, the movie begins…
Following the open ended introduction, Ondaatje kicks off his collection with two different opposing poetic styles, poetry and prose. The first poem is frank with minimal detail. “These are the killed.// By me) –” It leave you with several questions, many of which are modestly addressed in the subsequent prose poem on the opposing page. These poems play off of each other in placement and content. In the prose poem, a story is explained. To reference the movie example again, the first poem would be a scene of people being killed. The audience/reader is not sure of who or why. After the violent opening scene, the story begins to unravel and we see people together (as described on page 7) while a voice narrates what’s taking place; then the actors take over….
Throughout the first part of the book, many of the poems serve as narrations. They give brief summaries of general info, while the prose offers more detailed explanations.
During the collection, Ondaatje uses several artistic devices to share the story. The prose, poetry, photographs, interviews, and captions are compiled in a way that leaves you with questions and answers at the same time. Most of the questions arising in the poetry, and being answered in the other included forms. I think the arrangement of different types of writing successfully work in keeping the reader’s attention. The switching up artistic inclusions comes just before the audience may get tired of one writing style. Ondaatje never goes more than four or five pages with the same artistic style. Even the poems have different poetic devices such as spacing (p.53), indentation (p.67), or reflection (p.27) that make each poem different in more than content.