Poems And Songs - Leonard Cohen

 POEMS AND SONGS - LEONARD COHEN

'If on your travels you should come upon a book of Poems And Songs by Leonard Cohen - pick it up', is as good a piece of life advice as any. At the very least you won't regret it nor curse the day. How many books of Leonard Cohen lyrics and poems does a person need in their life, though? Isn't just one enough? Or for some is one too many, even? Well, like snowdrops no two Leonard Cohen books are the same and like that other saying 'It's not where you're from it's where you're at', with all the many Leonard Cohen books that have been published it's all down to the selection of content and to the format. To presentation and arrangement.

A large amount of Leonard Cohen's works have come from a dark place, as I'm sure we all know. An endless, dark night of his soul, it could be said. Where his works come to fruition, however, is often a whole different place entirely. It's a place of deep love. A languid, still, deep pool to be drunk from by the thirsty traveller. An oasis in a desert that from a distance might look like a mirage but when reached is found to be real, cool (in all meanings of the word) and tasting like nectar on the tongue. Men - or rather men not bound up in knots of the R D Laing variety - appreciate it whilst women tend to disrobe and bathe in its waters.

You may have noticed, actually, that Leonard Cohen was always surrounded by beautiful women. Though he remained a bachelor, he always had a beautiful woman on his arm. The explanation for this isn't because beautiful women are naturally attracted to depression but because they are attracted to love, to certainty, to humour, and to the self behind the eyes. The men don't know but the little girls understand, as Jim Morrison put it.

A book of Leonard Cohen's lyrics and poems is meant to be savoured. It's meant to be sipped like you would a fine wine from a bottle brought up from the cellar for a special occasion. Each poem, each lyric, each composition is meant to be rolled about the tongue and have it make acquaintance with your palate.

A book of Leonard Cohen's lyrics and poems is meant to be indulged and to indulge you. It's a seduction. An enticement. An intercourse. To coin a Patti Smith phrase, it's nothing less than a brainiac amour. 

John Serpico

The Energy Of Slaves - Leonard Cohen

THE ENERGY OF SLAVES – LEONARD COHEN

So you see a book for 10p and you buy it. Right? And if it's a book of poems by Leonard Cohen then it's a double bargain. Right? Double bubble.

It's a curious thing but most of the poems in The Energy Of Slaves by Leonard Cohen are untitled and undated so from the off it's a bit of an enigma – wrapped in a shroud of mystery. The only clue given that puts the collection into some sort of context is that it was published in 1972, and bearing in mind that Robert Altman's film McCabe & Mrs Miller (that featured a Leonard Cohen soundtrack of his songs, including Sisters Of Mercy) was made a year earlier in 1971, this tells us a litle bit as to where it's coming from.

If you're familiar with Cohen's oeuvre then there are some poems though untitled that are easily recognised such as the one that starts 'I left a woman waiting', which turned up on Cohen's 1977 Phil Spector-produced Death Of A Ladies Man album. It's also apparent that some were written when Cohen was living on Hydra, in Greece, whilst others were obviously written when living in New York. Suzanne even makes a cameo appearance in one when Cohen writes: 'The whole world told me to shut up and go home, and Suzanne took me down to her place by the river'.

Once you get past the puzzles, the hints and the undisclosed and simply settle down for the cruise, as might be expected there are some fine lines here that are a joy to read, showing Cohen at his best. For example:

'I didn't kill myself when things went wrong. I didn't turn to drugs or teaching. I tried to sleep but when I couldn't sleep I learned to write. I learned to write what might be read on nights like this by one like me'.

Or: 'So I sit down with the old men watching you dance. We never found a way to outwit your husband. I suggested a simple lie. You held out for murder'.

And this, to 'Mailer', whom I presume to mean Norman Mailer?: 'Dear Mailer, don't ever fuck with me or come up to me and punch my gut on behalf of one of your theories. I am armed and mad. Should I suffer the smallest humiliation at your hand I will k—l you and your entire family'.

And at one point he even gets political: 'Each man has a way to betray the revolution. This is mine'. And that's it. Broken down into just a four-line haiku but managing to speak volumes.

Leonard Cohen was a saint among men. Derided by some as being miserable and his recorded work labelled as music to slash your wrists to, he was in fact a man of much grace and humility. Yes, a lot of his songs were indeed dark but at the same time very beautiful. Many were very serious but also many very (darkly) comical. The same goes for his poems, the one addressed to Mailer being a good example due to the fact that whilst he threatens to kill Mailer and his family in the poem, the truth is that everyone knows Cohen would never have harmed a fly. Did he not go on to spend 10 years as a Buddhist monk? Which means this particular poem, when taken at face value is a death threat is actually Cohen being amusing.

The words, the voice, the music, the songs and the poems of Leonard Cohen are life-enhancing, and to those curious and open of mind there are lessons to be learned from them. There are lessons to be learned from the way he conducted his entire life, even. 

Today's lesson, however, is that if you see a book for 10p then you should buy it. Right? And if it's a book of poems by Leonard Cohen then it's a double bargain. Right?

Double bubble.

John Serpico

Poems 1956-1968 - Leonard Cohen

POEMS 1956-1968 - LEONARD COHEN

Some books being torn, tattered and dog-eared are all the better for it. It lends them character.

When travelling to a different country or even to just a different town, I always try to seek out any second-hand bookshops or charity shops as there's no way of knowing what book (or books) might be waiting there. You never know what might be found.

Occasionally I might come upon a book in one of these places that I'd quite like to read but it will be damp-stained and thoroughly worn out so I choose not to buy it simply for the fact that I don't want it in my house. I have my standards. Sometimes a book can be found, however, and though its pages might be loose and its cover torn I would still buy it because the damage lends it an unknowable history. Where has it been? Where has it come from? Who else has read it? How did it end up here?

I worked once for a prestigious wine company called Avery’s of Bristol and there I was taught that wine is a living thing that should be respected, be it the cheapest bottle from the shelves of Lidl to the most expensive from the cellars of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The same philosophy is one that I've always applied to books, that they're 'living' things to be respected and like wine they can age, some for the worse but some for the better.

The copy I've just read of Leonard Cohen's Poems 1956-1968 is in a beleaguered condition but I don't mind. I guess that new, shiny copies can still be purchased on Amazon or some such place and there's nothing wrong with that and nothing wrong in getting a copy from there. But a copy from Amazon may look new, it may smell new, it may be pristine but it won't, however, come with a history.

I've never understood Leonard Cohen being criticised for being 'depressing' or for making music 'to slash your wrists to' as I've always found his songs to actually be beautifully uplifting, often serving as a genuine antidote to melancholia. And if Leonard is meant to be such a depressive then how come he's always been such a ladies man?

He's always interested me has Mr Cohen, not only for his songs but for the whole way he's lived his life. In 1960, for example, he bought a house on the Greek island of Hydra and that's where for the best part of the next seven years he remained; writing his songs, his books and his poetry.

I've been to Hydra and it is indeed a very beautiful place. Very rustic, with no cars allowed there and hundreds of cats everywhere. Could this copy of Leonard Cohen's book of poems have come from there? It's possible and I like to think so.

Although not all of the poems would have been written in Greece, a good amount of them would have been and you can tell. If you have any affection for his songs then these poems will also appeal. Plato said: "At the touch of love - everyone becomes a poet" and if that's the case then Leonard Cohen is a man forever in love.

"You tell me that silence is nearer to peace than poems," he writes in Gift "But if for my gift I brought you silence (for I know silence) you would say 'This is not silence, this is another poem' and you would hand it back to me."

For myself, one poem in particular struck a chord going by the title I See You On a Greek Mattress because I too (coincidentally whilst living in Greece) once knew a guy called Steve who I used to really like but have now long lost touch with. And I too have had dealings with the I Ching, again (coincidentally) whilst living in Greece.

A lot of books that I read, once I've finished them I tend to donate to a charity shop rather than keeping them because I always feel that books are meant to be read and not just left on a shelf to gather dust. This one, however, I think I shall keep.

John Serpico