The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
House of Anansi Press
112 pages
$14.95
A startling long poem, combining prose passages, photographs, and documentary material about the bizarre life of a western folk hero, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid established Michael Ondaatje as a poet of international recognition.
Billy the Kid died at the age of twenty-two, but his legacy was as wide and as wild as the Old West itself. His was a world of romance and violence, a raw desert where human society was at once intruder and conqueror. And Billy epitomized the dual nature of his time and place: he was a lover as well as a killer, as shy and gentle as he was vicious.
In this remarkable book, Michael Ondaatje conjures up Billy the Kid and the world he lived in, creating not only a powerfully moving portrait but also a more profound myth.
Winner of the 1970 Governor General's Award for Poetry
