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渴望之書
《渴望之書》的情感是跨越國界的。這些詩是李歐納．柯恩在南加州伯地山的禪修中心，在洛杉磯、蒙特婁，在孟買寫的，距他上一本詩集的出版已經超過二十個年頭。這本燦爛動人的詩集同時收錄了詩人頑皮挑釁的畫作，這些作品和玄思冥想、無始無終卻又隱隱透露著晦暗幽默的詩作相映成趣。
極限音樂巨匠菲利普．格拉斯(Philip Glass)，和「搖滾樂界的拜倫」、加拿大籍詩人歌手李歐納．柯恩(Leonard Cohen)，兩位當代最重量級的藝術家醞釀多年，首次以柯恩2006年發表的詩畫集《渴望之書》為名，掀起跨界合作的話題。格拉斯以六年的時間，為柯恩的22首詩譜曲，運用四位歌者與小型樂團的編制，融合柯恩過去20年來的插畫投影，成為一場文學、視覺與音樂相互交合的盛宴。本書完整收錄台灣藝術節《渴望之書》亞洲首演，中英歌詞對照收藏之用。
極限音樂巨匠菲利普．格拉斯(Philip Glass)，和「搖滾樂界的拜倫」、加拿大籍詩人歌手李歐納．柯恩(Leonard Cohen)，兩位當代最重量級的藝術家醞釀多年，首次以柯恩2006年發表的詩畫集《渴望之書》為名，掀起跨界合作的話題。格拉斯以六年的時間，為柯恩的22首詩譜曲，運用四位歌者與小型樂團的編制，融合柯恩過去20年來的插畫投影，成為一場文學、視覺與音樂相互交合的盛宴。本書完整收錄台灣藝術節《渴望之書》亞洲首演，中英歌詞對照收藏之用。
456 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2006
995 people are currently reading
15038 people want to read
About the author
Leonard Cohen
217 books2,133 followersLeonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963.
Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.
His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.
Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".
Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.
His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.
Cohen's songs and poetry have influenced many other singer-songwriters, and more than a thousand renditions of his work have been recorded. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008 for his status among the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,121 reviews
April 16, 2022
HAPPY POETRY MONTH!
april is national poetry month,
so here come thirty floats!
the cynics here will call this plan
a shameless grab for votes.
and maybe there’s some truth to that—
i do love validation,
but charitably consider it
a rhyme-y celebration.
i don’t intend to flood your feed—
i’ll just post one a day.
endure four weeks of reruns
and then it will be may!
**************************
this book...basically, when he was in his sixties, leonard cohen went up a mountain to live and study in a buddhist monastery, and during the five years he was there, he was really horny and wrote a bunch of poems about it.
i'm sure it didn't help that the monastery was the mt. baldy zen center, which is quite a suggestive name.
leonard cohen’s always been the guy who lives on the seam where the the spiritual meets the erotic, only here he's moved away from imagery based in biblical and jewish mystical tradition and infused his sensuality into buddhist spirituality.
and somehow, when leonard cohen does it, it’s not icky, as it would be for many older gentlemen suffused with lust. is it because he was canadian? because he was dapper? or as he wrote,
Because of a few songs
Wherein I spoke of their mystery,
Women have been
Exceptionally kind
To my old age.
They make a secret place
In their busy lives
And they take me there.
They become naked
In their different ways
And they say,
"Look at me, Leonard
Look at me one last time."
Then they bend over the bed
And cover me up
Like a baby that is shivering.
it's a little bit from all of those columns; his generosity and humility and classiness, but it’s also his humor. he opens a poem called The Death of Zen with a description of cunnilingus, and this poem most certainly speaks to the difficulty of pursuing a spiritual journey when the physical urges won’t go gently:
EARLY MORNING AT MT. BALDY
Alarm awakened me at 2:30 a.m.:
got into my robes
kimono and hakama
modelled after the 12th-century
archer's costume:
on top of this the koroma
a heavy outer garment
with impossibly large sleeves:
on top of this the ruksu
a kind of patchwork bib
which incorporates an ivory disc:
and finally the four-foor
serpentine belt
that twists into a huge handsome knot
resembling a braided challah
and covers the bottom of the ruksu:
all in all
about 20 pounds of clothing
which I put on quickly
at 2:30 a.m.
over my enormous hard-on
as a collection, the poems aren’t his best; a little indulgent, a little scattered, a little forced, like someone poeticizing their diary, and some of it is straight-up bragging
and, oh, those drawings. leonard cohen was very fond of doodling ladybutts and boobs, the stuff of a 12-year-old boy’s spiral notebook, with more realistic proportions:
also fond of self-portraits, most of which make his face appear to be melting on a hot day, but a few with captions that made me laugh
ladybutts, meditation, self-reflection, more ladybutts, pretty words, nothing jaw-dropping here.
as far as the man goes, he gets all the stars for writing the songs that have hypnotized me, consoled me, inspired me, and been my soundtrack since i discovered him when i was fifteen. but these poems...they are not his best. these are more metaphysical and meandering. they're all over the place. some of them were later turned into songs appearing on the less-beloved albums (Ten New Songs and Dear Heather) in between The Future and Old Ideas when he started getting great again. it’s worth reading, because some of them have that pure cohen grace, like the introduction to the chinese-language translation of Beautiful Losers, and it’s always kind of fascinating to watch a master at work, in the category of “how are you making this not sound skeevy, old man?”
OPENED MY EYES
G-d opened my eyes this morning
loosened the bands of sleep
let me see
the waitress’s tiny earrings
and the merest foothills
of her small breasts
multiplied her front and back
in the double mirrors
of the restaurant
granted to me speed
and the penetration of layers
and turned me like a spindle
so I could gather in
and make my own
every single version of her beauty
Thank You Ruler of the World
Thank You for calling me Honey
in neil strauss' diary, that would be condensed to "ogled a waitress"
however he did it - it worked. i must confess, when he came to my store to sign stock of this very book and i was chosen to be in the green room with him for several hours, handing him the flapped books, i stood far closer than was strictly necessary or professional and at one point i absolutely pressed my ladygroin* against the back of his suited shoulder, because that's one of those opportunities you don't pass up. he didn't even notice, but at the end of the event, i brazenly** gave him a copy of a poem i'd adapted from one of his songs, and he emailed me a reply:
thank you for your song
a master song
can't seem to sleep
and the next few times he performed in nyfc, he set aside a few tickets for me for each of his shows. so perhaps i had some ladymagic after all.
all of that makes it super-weird that i never even read this book. i have several signed copies of it from that day, i have the new posthumous edition with even MORE nude doodles, and i even went to this philip glass concert which married glass' doodly-doo music to the poems and artwork from this book. but i always like to save a little something from authors i like, just in case. and now that "just in case" has actually occurred, i’m glad to have gotten this in my pagehabit box to give me a little kick in the butt. it’s not my favorite, but at least it’s something more from someone i will always adore.
an all-new posthumous book, The Flame, is out in october 2018, for those of you interested.
* adding the word “lady” to something makes it sound elegant and classy.
** the fact that i have determined "giving someone a poem" to be more brazen than "unsolicited pressing of my delicate flower upon a person" is something i need to have a think about.
this book was part of my quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit.
come to my blog!
april is national poetry month,
so here come thirty floats!
the cynics here will call this plan
a shameless grab for votes.
and maybe there’s some truth to that—
i do love validation,
but charitably consider it
a rhyme-y celebration.
i don’t intend to flood your feed—
i’ll just post one a day.
endure four weeks of reruns
and then it will be may!
**************************
this book...basically, when he was in his sixties, leonard cohen went up a mountain to live and study in a buddhist monastery, and during the five years he was there, he was really horny and wrote a bunch of poems about it.
i'm sure it didn't help that the monastery was the mt. baldy zen center, which is quite a suggestive name.
leonard cohen’s always been the guy who lives on the seam where the the spiritual meets the erotic, only here he's moved away from imagery based in biblical and jewish mystical tradition and infused his sensuality into buddhist spirituality.
and somehow, when leonard cohen does it, it’s not icky, as it would be for many older gentlemen suffused with lust. is it because he was canadian? because he was dapper? or as he wrote,
Because of a few songs
Wherein I spoke of their mystery,
Women have been
Exceptionally kind
To my old age.
They make a secret place
In their busy lives
And they take me there.
They become naked
In their different ways
And they say,
"Look at me, Leonard
Look at me one last time."
Then they bend over the bed
And cover me up
Like a baby that is shivering.
it's a little bit from all of those columns; his generosity and humility and classiness, but it’s also his humor. he opens a poem called The Death of Zen with a description of cunnilingus, and this poem most certainly speaks to the difficulty of pursuing a spiritual journey when the physical urges won’t go gently:
EARLY MORNING AT MT. BALDY
Alarm awakened me at 2:30 a.m.:
got into my robes
kimono and hakama
modelled after the 12th-century
archer's costume:
on top of this the koroma
a heavy outer garment
with impossibly large sleeves:
on top of this the ruksu
a kind of patchwork bib
which incorporates an ivory disc:
and finally the four-foor
serpentine belt
that twists into a huge handsome knot
resembling a braided challah
and covers the bottom of the ruksu:
all in all
about 20 pounds of clothing
which I put on quickly
at 2:30 a.m.
over my enormous hard-on
as a collection, the poems aren’t his best; a little indulgent, a little scattered, a little forced, like someone poeticizing their diary, and some of it is straight-up bragging
and, oh, those drawings. leonard cohen was very fond of doodling ladybutts and boobs, the stuff of a 12-year-old boy’s spiral notebook, with more realistic proportions:
also fond of self-portraits, most of which make his face appear to be melting on a hot day, but a few with captions that made me laugh
ladybutts, meditation, self-reflection, more ladybutts, pretty words, nothing jaw-dropping here.
as far as the man goes, he gets all the stars for writing the songs that have hypnotized me, consoled me, inspired me, and been my soundtrack since i discovered him when i was fifteen. but these poems...they are not his best. these are more metaphysical and meandering. they're all over the place. some of them were later turned into songs appearing on the less-beloved albums (Ten New Songs and Dear Heather) in between The Future and Old Ideas when he started getting great again. it’s worth reading, because some of them have that pure cohen grace, like the introduction to the chinese-language translation of Beautiful Losers, and it’s always kind of fascinating to watch a master at work, in the category of “how are you making this not sound skeevy, old man?”
OPENED MY EYES
G-d opened my eyes this morning
loosened the bands of sleep
let me see
the waitress’s tiny earrings
and the merest foothills
of her small breasts
multiplied her front and back
in the double mirrors
of the restaurant
granted to me speed
and the penetration of layers
and turned me like a spindle
so I could gather in
and make my own
every single version of her beauty
Thank You Ruler of the World
Thank You for calling me Honey
in neil strauss' diary, that would be condensed to "ogled a waitress"
however he did it - it worked. i must confess, when he came to my store to sign stock of this very book and i was chosen to be in the green room with him for several hours, handing him the flapped books, i stood far closer than was strictly necessary or professional and at one point i absolutely pressed my ladygroin* against the back of his suited shoulder, because that's one of those opportunities you don't pass up. he didn't even notice, but at the end of the event, i brazenly** gave him a copy of a poem i'd adapted from one of his songs, and he emailed me a reply:
thank you for your song
a master song
can't seem to sleep
and the next few times he performed in nyfc, he set aside a few tickets for me for each of his shows. so perhaps i had some ladymagic after all.
all of that makes it super-weird that i never even read this book. i have several signed copies of it from that day, i have the new posthumous edition with even MORE nude doodles, and i even went to this philip glass concert which married glass' doodly-doo music to the poems and artwork from this book. but i always like to save a little something from authors i like, just in case. and now that "just in case" has actually occurred, i’m glad to have gotten this in my pagehabit box to give me a little kick in the butt. it’s not my favorite, but at least it’s something more from someone i will always adore.
an all-new posthumous book, The Flame, is out in october 2018, for those of you interested.
* adding the word “lady” to something makes it sound elegant and classy.
** the fact that i have determined "giving someone a poem" to be more brazen than "unsolicited pressing of my delicate flower upon a person" is something i need to have a think about.
this book was part of my quarterly literary fiction box from pagehabit.
come to my blog!
December 20, 2025
“My time is running out
and still
I have not sung
The great song
The true song”--Leonard Cohen
Charles Bukowski talks with Leonard Cohen about his book of poetry, Book of Longing. Both wrote a lot of books of poetry and fiction.
Buk: Some nice pomes in there, Lenny! Not bad! I like the pictures, too, especially the ones of all the babes! Sweet!
Lenny: I like women! So sue me.
Buk: You won’t get any complaints from me! I like women quite a bit myself! My old pal Burroughs used to draw little things, too, like that.
Lenny: That he did!
Buk: You also had in there a lot of pictures of your own mug, which ain’t gettin' any prettier, man.
Lenny: You should talk, cover boy! Did you get the number of the truck that ran over yr face?
Buk: Haw! What is that yr drinking, music man?
Lenny: Wine, red.
Buk: Well, twist my arm, pass over that bottle, though I prefer beer, personally. Or even better, bourbon.
(The two toast, and drink, and pour another.)
Buk: I like those poems you wrote. Straight, no chaser, not a lot of silly academic gobbledygook. The school poets don’t like ‘em, but I do.
Lenny: They don’t like your stuff, either. Yours are like mine, I guess, a little. I try the candy approach, that sweet soft magic, like my music. The soul, man!
Buk: You know what they say about candy, don’tcha? Liquor is quicker.
(The two clink glasses in amused appreciation.)
Buk: The soul? The Buddha? What in the hell is all this monk crap? And Christ this, Christ that. I don’t go in for that spiritual crap. Give me a boxing match or the track anytime. We agree on one thing, though: To be in the arms of a woman is pure heaven.
(The two grin and clink glasses again, and Cohen pulls out a bottle of bourbon.)
Buk: Now, you’re talkin’!
I love Leonard Cohen's music. One of my favorites. It occurred to me these two might have some things in common, one of which is that the poetry establishment hates them as poets.
and still
I have not sung
The great song
The true song”--Leonard Cohen
Charles Bukowski talks with Leonard Cohen about his book of poetry, Book of Longing. Both wrote a lot of books of poetry and fiction.
Buk: Some nice pomes in there, Lenny! Not bad! I like the pictures, too, especially the ones of all the babes! Sweet!
Lenny: I like women! So sue me.
Buk: You won’t get any complaints from me! I like women quite a bit myself! My old pal Burroughs used to draw little things, too, like that.
Lenny: That he did!
Buk: You also had in there a lot of pictures of your own mug, which ain’t gettin' any prettier, man.
Lenny: You should talk, cover boy! Did you get the number of the truck that ran over yr face?
Buk: Haw! What is that yr drinking, music man?
Lenny: Wine, red.
Buk: Well, twist my arm, pass over that bottle, though I prefer beer, personally. Or even better, bourbon.
(The two toast, and drink, and pour another.)
Buk: I like those poems you wrote. Straight, no chaser, not a lot of silly academic gobbledygook. The school poets don’t like ‘em, but I do.
Lenny: They don’t like your stuff, either. Yours are like mine, I guess, a little. I try the candy approach, that sweet soft magic, like my music. The soul, man!
Buk: You know what they say about candy, don’tcha? Liquor is quicker.
(The two clink glasses in amused appreciation.)
Buk: The soul? The Buddha? What in the hell is all this monk crap? And Christ this, Christ that. I don’t go in for that spiritual crap. Give me a boxing match or the track anytime. We agree on one thing, though: To be in the arms of a woman is pure heaven.
(The two grin and clink glasses again, and Cohen pulls out a bottle of bourbon.)
Buk: Now, you’re talkin’!
I love Leonard Cohen's music. One of my favorites. It occurred to me these two might have some things in common, one of which is that the poetry establishment hates them as poets.
November 12, 2010
This book. This beautiful, beautiful book. Damn, I’m glad I picked this up. I’ve never read such a wonderful combination of sensual reverie, raw but fading lust and something damn close to Zen enlightenment. Cohen is a good, perhaps great poet, but he was also a practicing Zen monk when he wrote these poems as well as a long standing pilgrim in faith of the holiness of the body. For every poem extolling the benefits of Zazen and mindfulness you’ll read another of fruitful and unalloyed appreciation of the female form and the female mind. What makes this book so joyous is that these inspirations are in no way dichotomous but are just different strands of the spiritual sustenance Cohen finds, and delivers back through his poetry and music, in this wonderful, broken, fucked-up and beautiful beyond belief world. The wonderful volume is greatly abetted by Cohen’s warm, sensual, witty drawings and captions. This book joins my short shelf of books that entertain and inform but also show subtlety and with great depth of feeling and craft what it means to be human. To be human and stumbling towards meaning, purpose and sacred union with others while the world teeters on the cliff-edge of Apocalypse.
RE-POST. OLD REVIEW
RE-POST. OLD REVIEW
February 19, 2025
DNF - thank Heaven for fresh air already!
Perhaps it shows immaturity to disregard the tormented later life of one of our most iconic poets and songwriters - and my struggle toward maturity has been arduous due to my angry youth - for my illness and its remission has biased me badly.
When the long-welcomed dragon of half-awake desire torments a student of Rinzai Zen on his rocky road to Emptiness, it's schizophrenic meltdown time for that elderly monk, Leonard Cohen.
His climacteric was existentially Barthian, as this book shows.
But as a Christian follower of the subdued Soto variety, for me I can say my decrepit and empty world already allows me lungfuls of fresh breathing space!
Excuse me, Lennie, but isn't the main problem simply that you welcome illusion in your life? After all, you spent your life trying to get high on sex, drink or drugs.
Life, and the afterlife that follows, is empty.
But it is Pure!
Unlike this uselessly fractious book. Useless - like our own youthful resistance to the Hound of Heaven.
Two stars.
And yet it stands obdurate among the flawed final testaments of a great man's Awakening.
And his intensely physical pain of awakening is so much akin to our healing from sin in supernatural purgatorial fire!
Perhaps it shows immaturity to disregard the tormented later life of one of our most iconic poets and songwriters - and my struggle toward maturity has been arduous due to my angry youth - for my illness and its remission has biased me badly.
When the long-welcomed dragon of half-awake desire torments a student of Rinzai Zen on his rocky road to Emptiness, it's schizophrenic meltdown time for that elderly monk, Leonard Cohen.
His climacteric was existentially Barthian, as this book shows.
But as a Christian follower of the subdued Soto variety, for me I can say my decrepit and empty world already allows me lungfuls of fresh breathing space!
Excuse me, Lennie, but isn't the main problem simply that you welcome illusion in your life? After all, you spent your life trying to get high on sex, drink or drugs.
Life, and the afterlife that follows, is empty.
But it is Pure!
Unlike this uselessly fractious book. Useless - like our own youthful resistance to the Hound of Heaven.
Two stars.
And yet it stands obdurate among the flawed final testaments of a great man's Awakening.
And his intensely physical pain of awakening is so much akin to our healing from sin in supernatural purgatorial fire!
January 27, 2015
Sadly, this is the best poem in this book:
THOUSANDS
Out of the thousands
who are known,
or who want to be known
as poets,
maybe one or two
are genuine
and the rest are fakes,
hanging around the sacred
precincts
trying to look like the real thing.
Needless to say
I am one of the fakes,
and this is my story.
THOUSANDS
Out of the thousands
who are known,
or who want to be known
as poets,
maybe one or two
are genuine
and the rest are fakes,
hanging around the sacred
precincts
trying to look like the real thing.
Needless to say
I am one of the fakes,
and this is my story.
April 10, 2023
Happy Poetry Month...
And that is the longing
And this is the book
I listen to this book with the voice of the author himself...
better than poetry
is my poetry
which refers
to everything
that is beautiful and
dignified, but is
neither of these itself
I am not sure about this was an unabridged audio or not, there were 186 tracks/poems...
I was doing something
I don’t remember what
I was standing in a place
I don’t remember where
I was waiting for someone
but I don’t remember who
It was before or it was after
I don’t remember when
And suddenly or gradually
I was removed, I was taken
to this place of reversal
and I was separated
...
And now is the time for my favorite, though there were a lot I liked, this one became my best THERE FOR YOU, I wanted to post a few lines of it but couldn't choose, so...
When it all went down
And the pain came through
I get it now
I was there for you
Don’t ask me how
I know it’s true
I get it now
I was there for you
I make my plans
Like I always do
But when I look back
I was there for you
I walk the streets
Like I used to do
And I freeze with fear
But I’m there for you
I see my life
In full review
It was never me
It was always you
You sent me here
You sent me there
Breaking things
I can’t repair
Making objects
Out of thought
Making more
By thinking not
Eating food
And drinking wine
A body that
I thought was mine
Dressed as arab
Dressed as jew
O mask of iron
I was there for you
Moods of glory
Moods so foul
The world comes through
A bloody towel
And death is old
But it’s always new
I freeze with fear
And I’m there for you
I see it clear
I always knew
It was never me
I was there for you
I was there for you
My darling one
And by your law
It all was done
Don’t ask me how
I know it’s true
I get it now
I was there for you
And that is the longing
And this is the book
I listen to this book with the voice of the author himself...
better than poetry
is my poetry
which refers
to everything
that is beautiful and
dignified, but is
neither of these itself
I am not sure about this was an unabridged audio or not, there were 186 tracks/poems...
I was doing something
I don’t remember what
I was standing in a place
I don’t remember where
I was waiting for someone
but I don’t remember who
It was before or it was after
I don’t remember when
And suddenly or gradually
I was removed, I was taken
to this place of reversal
and I was separated
...
And now is the time for my favorite, though there were a lot I liked, this one became my best THERE FOR YOU, I wanted to post a few lines of it but couldn't choose, so...
When it all went down
And the pain came through
I get it now
I was there for you
Don’t ask me how
I know it’s true
I get it now
I was there for you
I make my plans
Like I always do
But when I look back
I was there for you
I walk the streets
Like I used to do
And I freeze with fear
But I’m there for you
I see my life
In full review
It was never me
It was always you
You sent me here
You sent me there
Breaking things
I can’t repair
Making objects
Out of thought
Making more
By thinking not
Eating food
And drinking wine
A body that
I thought was mine
Dressed as arab
Dressed as jew
O mask of iron
I was there for you
Moods of glory
Moods so foul
The world comes through
A bloody towel
And death is old
But it’s always new
I freeze with fear
And I’m there for you
I see it clear
I always knew
It was never me
I was there for you
I was there for you
My darling one
And by your law
It all was done
Don’t ask me how
I know it’s true
I get it now
I was there for you
Read
February 9, 2009One of the best lessons I learned from this book is to just let go and write, not worrying if it's going to be "good" or not. Don't get me wrong- there is incredible poetry in here (along with often very astute drawings) but there is also a lot "I promised myself I would write something". Some of it is inspired, some not.
Included are lyrics to a few of my favorite Cohen songs, like "Alexandra Leaving" and "Love Itself" which only makes the collection better.
Most of the poems/scribblings concern the time he spent in Monastery, so there is a big dose of "wrestling with God" in here, along with "wrestling with love, sex, things of the flesh".
A fine, fine book.
Included are lyrics to a few of my favorite Cohen songs, like "Alexandra Leaving" and "Love Itself" which only makes the collection better.
Most of the poems/scribblings concern the time he spent in Monastery, so there is a big dose of "wrestling with God" in here, along with "wrestling with love, sex, things of the flesh".
A fine, fine book.
February 22, 2008
Favorite Poems
The Book of Longing
I can't make the hills
The system is shot
I'm living on pills
For which I thank G-d
I followed the course
From chaos to art
Desire the horse
Depression the cart
I sailed like a swan
I sank like a rock
But time is long gone
Past my laughing stock
My page was too white
My ink was too thin
The day wouldn't write
What the night pencilled in
My animal howls
My angel's upset
But I'm not allowed
A trace of regret
For someone will use
What I couldn't be
My heart will be hers
Impersonally
She'll step on the path
She'll see what I mean
My will cut in half
And freedom between
For less than a second
Our lives will collide
The endless suspended
The door open wide
Then she will be born
To someone like you
What no one has done
She'll continue to do
I know she is coming
I know she will look
And that is the longing
And this is the book
***
My Time
My time is running out
And still
I have not sung
the true song
the great song
I admit
that I seem
to have lost my courage
a glance at the mirror
a glimpse into my heart
makes me want
to shut up forever
so why do you lean me here
Lord of my life
lean me at this table
in the middle of the night
wondering how to be beautiful
The Book of Longing
I can't make the hills
The system is shot
I'm living on pills
For which I thank G-d
I followed the course
From chaos to art
Desire the horse
Depression the cart
I sailed like a swan
I sank like a rock
But time is long gone
Past my laughing stock
My page was too white
My ink was too thin
The day wouldn't write
What the night pencilled in
My animal howls
My angel's upset
But I'm not allowed
A trace of regret
For someone will use
What I couldn't be
My heart will be hers
Impersonally
She'll step on the path
She'll see what I mean
My will cut in half
And freedom between
For less than a second
Our lives will collide
The endless suspended
The door open wide
Then she will be born
To someone like you
What no one has done
She'll continue to do
I know she is coming
I know she will look
And that is the longing
And this is the book
***
My Time
My time is running out
And still
I have not sung
the true song
the great song
I admit
that I seem
to have lost my courage
a glance at the mirror
a glimpse into my heart
makes me want
to shut up forever
so why do you lean me here
Lord of my life
lean me at this table
in the middle of the night
wondering how to be beautiful
July 9, 2017
از ميان هزاران هزار نفر
كه به عنوان شاعر
شناخته شده اند
شايد يكى دو تا
شاعر واقعى باشند
الباقى جعلى اند
دور و بر ساحت هاى مقدس مى پلكند
و سعى مى كنند خود را يك شاعر حقيقى جا بزنند.
گفتن ندارد
من هم يكى از همان جعلى ها هستم.
•
مرگ بر هر كسى
چه مرد و چه زن
كه اين شعر را بگشايد
شعرى كه من در آن لباس سياه مى پوشم.
و متبرك مى كنم چشمان شما را
كه از اين صفحه به سرعت عبور مى كنيد.
كه به عنوان شاعر
شناخته شده اند
شايد يكى دو تا
شاعر واقعى باشند
الباقى جعلى اند
دور و بر ساحت هاى مقدس مى پلكند
و سعى مى كنند خود را يك شاعر حقيقى جا بزنند.
گفتن ندارد
من هم يكى از همان جعلى ها هستم.
•
مرگ بر هر كسى
چه مرد و چه زن
كه اين شعر را بگشايد
شعرى كه من در آن لباس سياه مى پوشم.
و متبرك مى كنم چشمان شما را
كه از اين صفحه به سرعت عبور مى كنيد.
March 21, 2024
همین اول بگم که من اهل شعر نیستم (هنوز) و برای همین هم بلد نیستم شعر خوب (مخصوصاً به انگلیسی) باید چه شکلی باشه. اما تقریباً مطمئنم که این شکلی نیست
اگر طرفدار صدای خاص لئونارد کوهن و شعرهای تاریک آهنگهاش باشید، کنجکاو میشید که توی این کتاب چه خبره. بگذارید به مودبانهترین شکل ممکن خلاصه کنم: کوهن میره پنج سال بالای کوه در معبد زندگی میکنه و این مدت به نظر میاد بیشتر به زنها، خورد و خوراک در نواحی تولد و عضو سرحال سر صبح فکر میکنه و ازشون شعر(؟) میگه. این وسط هم یک سری اسکچ از جلو، عقب و کنار زنها و چندتایی هم از صورت خودش داریم
یک جاهایی میشه اون ظرافت و زیبایی شعر رو دید. ولی انقدر کوتاه و با فاصله هستند که به نظرم به حساب نمیان. اگه با صدای جادویی خودش در حین خوندن شعرها کتاب صوتی رو گوش نداده بودم، همون اولش بیخیال کتاب شده بودم. البته که صوتیش به نظرم خیلی به درد میخوره. یک چرت حداقل بیست دقیقهایه خوب رو براتون تضمین میکنه
از اینجا میتونید بخونیدش و بهم بگید چرا در موردش اشتباه میکنم
Maede's Books
۱۴۰۳/۱/۲
اگر طرفدار صدای خاص لئونارد کوهن و شعرهای تاریک آهنگهاش باشید، کنجکاو میشید که توی این کتاب چه خبره. بگذارید به مودبانهترین شکل ممکن خلاصه کنم: کوهن میره پنج سال بالای کوه در معبد زندگی میکنه و این مدت به نظر میاد بیشتر به زنها، خورد و خوراک در نواحی تولد و عضو سرحال سر صبح فکر میکنه و ازشون شعر(؟) میگه. این وسط هم یک سری اسکچ از جلو، عقب و کنار زنها و چندتایی هم از صورت خودش داریم
یک جاهایی میشه اون ظرافت و زیبایی شعر رو دید. ولی انقدر کوتاه و با فاصله هستند که به نظرم به حساب نمیان. اگه با صدای جادویی خودش در حین خوندن شعرها کتاب صوتی رو گوش نداده بودم، همون اولش بیخیال کتاب شده بودم. البته که صوتیش به نظرم خیلی به درد میخوره. یک چرت حداقل بیست دقیقهایه خوب رو براتون تضمین میکنه
از اینجا میتونید بخونیدش و بهم بگید چرا در موردش اشتباه میکنم
Maede's Books
۱۴۰۳/۱/۲
January 19, 2021
"Dear Reader, please forgive me if I have wasted your time."
He actually wrote that in this book.
The one star is for the apology.
He actually wrote that in this book.
The one star is for the apology.
December 26, 2016
Thanks again Mr Cohen for your words, you will live on forever through them. Rest In Peace, Leonard Cohen.
September 7, 2022
I guess I don't get it. The drawings look like they were drawn in Microsoft Paint. The poems that spread over more than one page has a small Microsoft Word pointer finger leading the reader to the next page.
The poems seem lazy and most are about not worrying about quality or about getting erections.
Songs of Leonard Cohen is one of my favorite albums, and I enjoy most of his music. This lacks his usual complex imagery and multiple meanings. I wasn't able to experience anything more than a haunting image of an old dude dressed as a monk getting an erection.
I'll probably revisit this again to see how mistaken I am.
The poems seem lazy and most are about not worrying about quality or about getting erections.
Songs of Leonard Cohen is one of my favorite albums, and I enjoy most of his music. This lacks his usual complex imagery and multiple meanings. I wasn't able to experience anything more than a haunting image of an old dude dressed as a monk getting an erection.
I'll probably revisit this again to see how mistaken I am.
October 5, 2022
Nesaslēdzos ar šo dzeju nevienā līmenī, ja neskaita vienu dzejoli un dažas atsevišķas rindas. Interesantāk šķita aplūkot Koena paša zīmētās ilustrācijas un pašportretus. Viņš daudz reflektē par Dievu, apcer savu vecumu, piemin sievietes un, protams, mīlestību. Man patika, cik nepiespiesti, bet ne rupji, viņš raksta par seksualitāti. Objektīvi varu novērtēt, ka krājums labs, augstā intelektuālā līmenī. Subjektīvi - vilšanās.
December 16, 2017
4/5 stars
Anyone who knows me knows that I am in love with Leonard Cohen's music, so it was only a matter of time before I delved into his poetry. His tone in the poetry was similar to his music, but also felt very different to just read rather than listen to. His poetry was witty, intellectual, sometimes psychedelic and thought-provoking. I tabbed so many of my pages, just collecting my favourite poems from this collection, because there were so many. I do believe that knowing the context behind many of the poems was vital to understanding the content, which made some poems hard to decipher. It felt as if these poems weren't made for the public, but were rather the inner musings of this complex man's life. The poems were packed full of feelings of desire, longing, sensuality as well as the effects of aging. Altogether, I really enjoyed reading these poems and feel as if I've gained a different sort of understanding of this artist.
I was truly touched at some of the poems, and have already re-read them multiple times. In stark contrast, some of his poems were brutally honest about his feelings on money, success and women; which gave this book a sense of honesty. The poems were not sugar-coated, much like with his lyrics. It was rather cynical, but some were also very Zen, reflecting his time as a Monk. As you can see, I'm having a difficult time explaining these poem as one entity, because they're all so different. It's also hard to bunch the themes of the collection into a few sentences, but I'm trying. The poems are also accompanied by drawings that range from sallow portraits of Leonard, to erotic sketches and even drawings of birds. In all, this was a seemingly private exploration of the world through the mind of an artist who sees things sometimes in humour and sometimes with cynicism. Of the entire collection my favourite poems were: You'd Sing Too, My Mother is not Dead, My Time (below) and Pardon Me.
"The old are kind.
The young are hot.
Love may be blind.
Desire is not."
-Sorrows of the Elderly
Anyone who knows me knows that I am in love with Leonard Cohen's music, so it was only a matter of time before I delved into his poetry. His tone in the poetry was similar to his music, but also felt very different to just read rather than listen to. His poetry was witty, intellectual, sometimes psychedelic and thought-provoking. I tabbed so many of my pages, just collecting my favourite poems from this collection, because there were so many. I do believe that knowing the context behind many of the poems was vital to understanding the content, which made some poems hard to decipher. It felt as if these poems weren't made for the public, but were rather the inner musings of this complex man's life. The poems were packed full of feelings of desire, longing, sensuality as well as the effects of aging. Altogether, I really enjoyed reading these poems and feel as if I've gained a different sort of understanding of this artist.
I was truly touched at some of the poems, and have already re-read them multiple times. In stark contrast, some of his poems were brutally honest about his feelings on money, success and women; which gave this book a sense of honesty. The poems were not sugar-coated, much like with his lyrics. It was rather cynical, but some were also very Zen, reflecting his time as a Monk. As you can see, I'm having a difficult time explaining these poem as one entity, because they're all so different. It's also hard to bunch the themes of the collection into a few sentences, but I'm trying. The poems are also accompanied by drawings that range from sallow portraits of Leonard, to erotic sketches and even drawings of birds. In all, this was a seemingly private exploration of the world through the mind of an artist who sees things sometimes in humour and sometimes with cynicism. Of the entire collection my favourite poems were: You'd Sing Too, My Mother is not Dead, My Time (below) and Pardon Me.
"My time is running out
and still
I have nog sung
The true song
The great song
I admit
That I seem
To have lost my courage
A glance at the mirror
A glimpse into my heart
Makes me want
To shut up forever
So why do you lean me here
Lord of my life
Lean me at this table
In the middle of the night
Wondering
How to be beautiful"
-My Time
March 10, 2025
only one thing
made him happy
and now that
it was gone
everything
made him happy
Was on a bit of a Leonard Cohen bender there for a few days, watched the documentary "I'm Your Man" (in which LC reads some of the pieces in this book), and worked my way through this volume.
Collected over 20 years, this book contains poems, songs, short prose poems, and many drawings by LC, especially self-portraits. The piece above is dated "September 27, 2004 Montreal" and comes with a bearded scruffy grumpy self-portrait.
I appreciated this book more once I heard Leonard Cohen reading some of the contents in his own inimitable way.
5 stars, because we all love Leonard Cohen, it made me think of friends who have now passed who loved Leonard Cohen, and there was a time in my life when I used to sing "Bird on a Wire" in public in the voice of Elmer Fudd. Try it — you'll have a blast!
made him happy
and now that
it was gone
everything
made him happy
Was on a bit of a Leonard Cohen bender there for a few days, watched the documentary "I'm Your Man" (in which LC reads some of the pieces in this book), and worked my way through this volume.
Collected over 20 years, this book contains poems, songs, short prose poems, and many drawings by LC, especially self-portraits. The piece above is dated "September 27, 2004 Montreal" and comes with a bearded scruffy grumpy self-portrait.
I appreciated this book more once I heard Leonard Cohen reading some of the contents in his own inimitable way.
5 stars, because we all love Leonard Cohen, it made me think of friends who have now passed who loved Leonard Cohen, and there was a time in my life when I used to sing "Bird on a Wire" in public in the voice of Elmer Fudd. Try it — you'll have a blast!
Read
December 30, 2013Leonard Cohen's poetry is... uneven. Some of the poems in this volume are wonderful little incantations. Others strike me as song lyrics-- and the unfortunate thing about song lyrics is that they tend to make horrible poetry, even if they're great lyrics, and a great lyricist Leonard Cohen undoubtedly is. And yet others are Zen-inspired pabulum that seemed fine in Allen Ginsberg's day, but now-- especially that I live in a Buddhist country, and have developed a repulsion towards Buddhism equal to my youthful repulsion towards Christianity-- strike me as a rather more exotic version of the motivational not-so-bon mots written in cursive on Precious Moments calendars at my Grandma's house in Kansas.
My, that was snarky! But there are some good poems in here. And his drawings are neat.
My, that was snarky! But there are some good poems in here. And his drawings are neat.
May 3, 2016
"A record of
Our little truth
The cloth we wove
The tools we used
The games of luck
Our soldiers played
The stones we cut
The songs we made
Our law of peace
Which understands
A husband leads
A wife commands"
Our little truth
The cloth we wove
The tools we used
The games of luck
Our soldiers played
The stones we cut
The songs we made
Our law of peace
Which understands
A husband leads
A wife commands"
April 7, 2022
"I followed the course
From chaos to art
Desire the horse
Depression the cart"
In the 90s, Leonard Cohen went to live in a Zen monastery for a fair share of the decade, during which time, he grew extremely horny. This book is the product of it.
Thankfully not every poem in this collection is about Cohen's lustful, raunchy desires. There are some about regrets, relationships, and some particularly about a longing to change things as they are.
Not every poem in the Book of Longing is a masterpiece, with themes ranging from lust to pure love. However, what keeps this book interesting is Cohen's amazing writing prowess and his beautiful use of words, making this collection a worthwhile read.
From chaos to art
Desire the horse
Depression the cart"
In the 90s, Leonard Cohen went to live in a Zen monastery for a fair share of the decade, during which time, he grew extremely horny. This book is the product of it.
Thankfully not every poem in this collection is about Cohen's lustful, raunchy desires. There are some about regrets, relationships, and some particularly about a longing to change things as they are.
Not every poem in the Book of Longing is a masterpiece, with themes ranging from lust to pure love. However, what keeps this book interesting is Cohen's amazing writing prowess and his beautiful use of words, making this collection a worthwhile read.
March 25, 2023
It's going to happen very soon. The great event
that will end the horror. That will end the sorrow.
Next tuesday, when the sun goes down, I will
play the Moonlight Sonata backwards. This will
reverse the effects of the world's mad plunge into
suffering for the last 200 million years. What a
lovely night that will be. What a sigh of relief, as
the senile robins become bright red again, and the
retired nightingales pick up their dusty tails, and
assert the majesty of creation!
June 20, 2017
2.5/5 stars.
Leonard Cohen was/is a very talented writer but I think his work is a bit too filled with how horny he is for me to read more.
Leonard Cohen was/is a very talented writer but I think his work is a bit too filled with how horny he is for me to read more.
August 9, 2023
My apologies in advance but I just don’t like poetry 🤪
January 14, 2026
Now I finally understand what Lucy Dacus meant when she wrote "horny poetry."
October 21, 2020
Outros Escritores
Steve Sanfield é um grande mestre do haiku.
Vive no campo com Sarah,
a sua bela esposa,
e escreve sobre as pequenas coisas
que representam todas as coisas.
Kyozan Joshu Roshi,
que conduziu centenas de monges
a um despertar absoluto,
dedica-se à expansão
e contracção simultâneas
do cosmos.
Eu discorro continuamente
sobre uma nobre rapariga
que desapertou as calças de ganga
no banco da frente do meu jipe
e me deixou tocar
a fonte da vida
por eu me encontrar tão longe dela.
Tenho a dizer-vos, amigos,
que prefiro as minhas cenas às deles.
Página 15
Steve Sanfield é um grande mestre do haiku.
Vive no campo com Sarah,
a sua bela esposa,
e escreve sobre as pequenas coisas
que representam todas as coisas.
Kyozan Joshu Roshi,
que conduziu centenas de monges
a um despertar absoluto,
dedica-se à expansão
e contracção simultâneas
do cosmos.
Eu discorro continuamente
sobre uma nobre rapariga
que desapertou as calças de ganga
no banco da frente do meu jipe
e me deixou tocar
a fonte da vida
por eu me encontrar tão longe dela.
Tenho a dizer-vos, amigos,
que prefiro as minhas cenas às deles.
Página 15
December 12, 2017
Leonard Cohen was a Jew who became a Zen monk who wrote songs and poems about Jesus for fifty years. He was also the absolute embodiment of what it means to be a writer. Book of Longing is alive with Leonard’s nights and days in the monastery on Mt. Baldy, featuring 230 pages of poems and drawings, most of those pages blackened during his time as a monk.
I learned to write poetry from reading and re-reading the poems in this book. I studied his work for meter and stress. I tried to figure out how he could’ve written such lines that burn with luminous intensity. Frequently, I’ll find myself in a situation where a stray line or phrase will drift through my thoughts… After publication, a few of the poems here later became lyrics on some of Leonard’s final albums. Songs like the dark and stunning “Nevermind” had their beginning in Book of Longing.
The artwork mostly falls into two categories: unflattering self-portraits and naked ladies. As someone who has drawn the occasional unflattering self-portrait and a naked lady or two, I enjoyed them very much. If you’re a Cotton Mather-type, however, you may not.
Some of the other reviewers have been harsh about the inclusion of “weaker” poems. They don’t seem to understand that the volume functions, in part, as a psychological chronicle of Leonard’s time on Mt. Baldy. Which means that an utter masterpiece like “Alexandra Leaving” may appear alongside a more off-the-cuff, stream of consciousness journal entry like “Food Tastes Good.” To me, that’s one more reason to love this book—it’s a revelation of Leonard’s life and state of mind during those years.
Book of Longing is my favorite volume of poetry and Leonard Cohen is my favorite poet. If you’re a fan of his music but haven’t given any of his poetry a try, this is the perfect place to start.
—Sincerely, M. McNabb
I learned to write poetry from reading and re-reading the poems in this book. I studied his work for meter and stress. I tried to figure out how he could’ve written such lines that burn with luminous intensity. Frequently, I’ll find myself in a situation where a stray line or phrase will drift through my thoughts… After publication, a few of the poems here later became lyrics on some of Leonard’s final albums. Songs like the dark and stunning “Nevermind” had their beginning in Book of Longing.
The artwork mostly falls into two categories: unflattering self-portraits and naked ladies. As someone who has drawn the occasional unflattering self-portrait and a naked lady or two, I enjoyed them very much. If you’re a Cotton Mather-type, however, you may not.
Some of the other reviewers have been harsh about the inclusion of “weaker” poems. They don’t seem to understand that the volume functions, in part, as a psychological chronicle of Leonard’s time on Mt. Baldy. Which means that an utter masterpiece like “Alexandra Leaving” may appear alongside a more off-the-cuff, stream of consciousness journal entry like “Food Tastes Good.” To me, that’s one more reason to love this book—it’s a revelation of Leonard’s life and state of mind during those years.
Book of Longing is my favorite volume of poetry and Leonard Cohen is my favorite poet. If you’re a fan of his music but haven’t given any of his poetry a try, this is the perfect place to start.
—Sincerely, M. McNabb
February 13, 2019
I expected this to be just like his songs are, but it's even better. It has the same mix of self-irony, spirituality, and eroticism, and reads just like a journal. He even has a poem dedicated to his diary, and it feels like he's talking to the actual book you're reading.
It's nice that the poems reflect some of the events of his life, too, especially his time experimenting with Buddhism and living in a monastery, trying to find a deeper spirituality, and falling just short of it. The regular desires and disillusions, those he was so apt at writing about, are responsible for preventing his full immersion into the zen lifestyle, and I think we're all lucky not to have 'lost' him to it.
I also loved the little doodles and self-portraits scribbled in between poems, throughout the book. They're fragile and beautiful, sometimes a bit sarcastic too, and most of the time playful. I also like how the collection also includes a little introduction he wrote for Chinese readers for one of his previous books, Beautiful Losers. That intro is so beautiful that it definitely deserved to be counted as a poem in itself, so including it makes total sense.
Not that the volume is all poetry (and drawings), mind you. Lyrical prose excerpts are also a thing. You have to just read for yourself, one beautiful page at a time. The pervading theme throughout the entire collection is, of course, longing, the feeling Cohen is so adept at projecting. It's not all erotic longing, either, but also the more elusive varieties of spiritual longing, longing after a previous version of yourself that's been irreversibly lost, and so on.
Here are some of my favorite bits, and which are generally less well-known. (I don't need to quote the beautiful lyrics to A Thousand Kisses Deep, for example, which are included in this collection - in both versions).
“I followed the course
From chaos to art
Desire the horse
Depression the cart”
-----------------------
HOW COULD I HAVE DOUBTED
I stopped looking for you
I stopped waiting for you
I stopped dying for you
and I started dying for myself
I aged rapidly
I became fat in the face
and soft in the gut
and I forgot that I’d ever loved you
I was old
I had no focus, no mission
I wandered around eating and buying
bigger and bigger clothes
and I forgot why I hated
every long moment that was mine to fill
Why did you come back to me tonight
I can’t even get off this chair
Tears run down my cheeks
I am in love again
I can live like this
------------------------------
“I was one of the things that was put into Jana. Once you have been put in, you have been put in forever. That is love. Sometimes it is greater than Death, sometimes smaller, sometimes the same size.”
-------------------------------
SPLIT
What can I do
with this love of mine
with this hairy knob
with this poison wine
Who shall I take
to the edge of despair
with my knee on her heart
and my lips in her hair
So I’ll take all my love
and I’ll split it in two
and there’s one part for me
and there’s one part for you
And we’ll drink the wine
and we’ll hide the staff
and the lover will groan
and the other will laugh
And I’ll go to your bed
and I’ll lie by your side
and I’ll bury the bones
and I’ll marry the bride
And you’ll do the same
when you come to my room
You’ll dig in my dirt
and you’ll bury the groom
And I swear by this love
which is living and dead
that we will be separate
and we will be wed
------------------------
LOOKING AWAY
you would look at me
and it never occurred to me
that you might be choosing
the man of your life
you would look at me
over the bottles and the corpses
and I thought
you must be playing with me
you must think I’m crazy enough
to step behind your eyes
into the open elevator shaft
so I looked away
and I waited
until you became a palm tree
or a crow
or the vast grey ocean of wind
or the vast grey ocean of mind
now look at me
married to everyone but you
------------------------
“I gave her something pretty
And I waited ’til she laughed
I wasn’t born a gypsy
To make a woman sad”
-------------------------
BECAUSE OF A FEW SONGS
Because of a few songs
wherein I spoke of their mystery,
women have been
exceptionally kind
to my old age.
They make a secret place
in their busy lives
and they take me there.
They become naked
in their different ways
and they say,
“Look at me, Leonard
look at me one last time.”
Then they bend over the bed
and cover me up
like a baby that is shivering.
------------------------
“I want to love you now
I want to love you then
I want to love you never
And then begin again
All the tassels of my belt
Go flying in the sky
When you bend down to laugh at me
From your place on high
I want to be the fool
The one you send away
After you have used him up
Every second day
I want to be the rose
You beckon with a yawn
Limping on a thorny crutch
Across the burning lawn
See what you have done to me
As if you give a shit
I used to live behind a line
But now I’m over it
I won’t come back to say goodbye
I’ll never leave your side
Until I am the other man
And you are someone’s bride
Sit down on my memory
When you are in pain
When you are in pleasure
Sit down on it again”
.
It's nice that the poems reflect some of the events of his life, too, especially his time experimenting with Buddhism and living in a monastery, trying to find a deeper spirituality, and falling just short of it. The regular desires and disillusions, those he was so apt at writing about, are responsible for preventing his full immersion into the zen lifestyle, and I think we're all lucky not to have 'lost' him to it.
I also loved the little doodles and self-portraits scribbled in between poems, throughout the book. They're fragile and beautiful, sometimes a bit sarcastic too, and most of the time playful. I also like how the collection also includes a little introduction he wrote for Chinese readers for one of his previous books, Beautiful Losers. That intro is so beautiful that it definitely deserved to be counted as a poem in itself, so including it makes total sense.
Not that the volume is all poetry (and drawings), mind you. Lyrical prose excerpts are also a thing. You have to just read for yourself, one beautiful page at a time. The pervading theme throughout the entire collection is, of course, longing, the feeling Cohen is so adept at projecting. It's not all erotic longing, either, but also the more elusive varieties of spiritual longing, longing after a previous version of yourself that's been irreversibly lost, and so on.
Here are some of my favorite bits, and which are generally less well-known. (I don't need to quote the beautiful lyrics to A Thousand Kisses Deep, for example, which are included in this collection - in both versions).
“I followed the course
From chaos to art
Desire the horse
Depression the cart”
-----------------------
HOW COULD I HAVE DOUBTED
I stopped looking for you
I stopped waiting for you
I stopped dying for you
and I started dying for myself
I aged rapidly
I became fat in the face
and soft in the gut
and I forgot that I’d ever loved you
I was old
I had no focus, no mission
I wandered around eating and buying
bigger and bigger clothes
and I forgot why I hated
every long moment that was mine to fill
Why did you come back to me tonight
I can’t even get off this chair
Tears run down my cheeks
I am in love again
I can live like this
------------------------------
“I was one of the things that was put into Jana. Once you have been put in, you have been put in forever. That is love. Sometimes it is greater than Death, sometimes smaller, sometimes the same size.”
-------------------------------
SPLIT
What can I do
with this love of mine
with this hairy knob
with this poison wine
Who shall I take
to the edge of despair
with my knee on her heart
and my lips in her hair
So I’ll take all my love
and I’ll split it in two
and there’s one part for me
and there’s one part for you
And we’ll drink the wine
and we’ll hide the staff
and the lover will groan
and the other will laugh
And I’ll go to your bed
and I’ll lie by your side
and I’ll bury the bones
and I’ll marry the bride
And you’ll do the same
when you come to my room
You’ll dig in my dirt
and you’ll bury the groom
And I swear by this love
which is living and dead
that we will be separate
and we will be wed
------------------------
LOOKING AWAY
you would look at me
and it never occurred to me
that you might be choosing
the man of your life
you would look at me
over the bottles and the corpses
and I thought
you must be playing with me
you must think I’m crazy enough
to step behind your eyes
into the open elevator shaft
so I looked away
and I waited
until you became a palm tree
or a crow
or the vast grey ocean of wind
or the vast grey ocean of mind
now look at me
married to everyone but you
------------------------
“I gave her something pretty
And I waited ’til she laughed
I wasn’t born a gypsy
To make a woman sad”
-------------------------
BECAUSE OF A FEW SONGS
Because of a few songs
wherein I spoke of their mystery,
women have been
exceptionally kind
to my old age.
They make a secret place
in their busy lives
and they take me there.
They become naked
in their different ways
and they say,
“Look at me, Leonard
look at me one last time.”
Then they bend over the bed
and cover me up
like a baby that is shivering.
------------------------
“I want to love you now
I want to love you then
I want to love you never
And then begin again
All the tassels of my belt
Go flying in the sky
When you bend down to laugh at me
From your place on high
I want to be the fool
The one you send away
After you have used him up
Every second day
I want to be the rose
You beckon with a yawn
Limping on a thorny crutch
Across the burning lawn
See what you have done to me
As if you give a shit
I used to live behind a line
But now I’m over it
I won’t come back to say goodbye
I’ll never leave your side
Until I am the other man
And you are someone’s bride
Sit down on my memory
When you are in pain
When you are in pleasure
Sit down on it again”
.
December 26, 2016
نمیدونم حس خوبی داشتم به این کتاب یا نه. خب، از دبیرستان با آهنگای کوهن رفیق بودم و بعضی ترانههاش حکم لالایی شب رو داشت برام... از اونا که میذاری رو تکرار و اونقدر میخونه و میخونی تا خوابت ببره... تو تمام سالهای بعد از اون هم همینطور. نمیدونم famous blue raincoat یا you got me singinig یا winter lady و بقیهی آهنگهاش رو چند صد هزار بار گوش دادم... اینه که جنس شعرهاش و حس ترانههاش رو میشناسم. اینه که از دیدن سه نقطهها وسط متن شعر حرصم میگیره. یا جایی که ترانه برام آشناست و میبینم به جای you kiss my lips نوشته به هم بر می خوریم!!!
میدونم شرایط ممیزی ایران روبهراه نیست، ولی خب، چه اصراری به ترجمهی این کتاب وقتی میبینی مشکل داره.
با این حال خیلی شعرها هم بود که نخونده و نشنیده بودم ازش.
مثل شعر پنجاه، که البته بیشتر نثر بود تا شعر.
میدونم شرایط ممیزی ایران روبهراه نیست، ولی خب، چه اصراری به ترجمهی این کتاب وقتی میبینی مشکل داره.
با این حال خیلی شعرها هم بود که نخونده و نشنیده بودم ازش.
مثل شعر پنجاه، که البته بیشتر نثر بود تا شعر.
Read
March 30, 2021I just recently started reading poetry, so I don't really know how to rate it. I did truly enjoy the whole book; the weirdness and the beauty of it, but then again I don't feel like I understood half of the book because I don't know much about Leonard Cohen and his life. Still, I'm going to give the book 4 stars, just because I really enjoyed reading it.
Some of my favorite poems from the book include: "Better", "Fun", "I Wrote For Love", "Nightingale", "The Faith" and "Report To R.S.B."
Some of my favorite poems from the book include: "Better", "Fun", "I Wrote For Love", "Nightingale", "The Faith" and "Report To R.S.B."
June 16, 2020
I don’t know about you, but since lockdown started I’ve really struggled to read anything. My scattered brain keeps wandering off to poke and worry at other things, and suddenly books I’d normally tear through are being read over months instead. I’m really missing my escapes into books and so, in an attempt to get my reading mojo back, I turned to the poetry of one of my favourites.
I’ve been a fan of Leonard Cohen for a very long time so it was no surprise that the Book of Longing, containing poetry, lyrics, and illustrations ruminating on love, sex, aging, spirituality and more that all display his customary wryness, really floated my boat. I’m not normally a particular fan of poetry – I’d much rather listen to a song – but the fact that it was Leonard’s words I was reading helped me to give it more of a chance, while the fact that each piece lasted no longer than my shattered attention span could manage certainly helped to make my lunch breaks much, much better.
You can almost hear that wonderfully gravelly voice murmuring these words to you as you turn the pages, and even amidst the sadness and disappointment I’ve been feeling as some of the people in my life reveal themselves not to be who I thought they were, he still managed to make me smile. Life’s not always easy, but Leonard Cohen always manages to make me feel that even when things are at their darkest there is always, to paraphrase one of his songs, a crack that lets the light in.
**Also posted at Cannonball Read**
I’ve been a fan of Leonard Cohen for a very long time so it was no surprise that the Book of Longing, containing poetry, lyrics, and illustrations ruminating on love, sex, aging, spirituality and more that all display his customary wryness, really floated my boat. I’m not normally a particular fan of poetry – I’d much rather listen to a song – but the fact that it was Leonard’s words I was reading helped me to give it more of a chance, while the fact that each piece lasted no longer than my shattered attention span could manage certainly helped to make my lunch breaks much, much better.
You can almost hear that wonderfully gravelly voice murmuring these words to you as you turn the pages, and even amidst the sadness and disappointment I’ve been feeling as some of the people in my life reveal themselves not to be who I thought they were, he still managed to make me smile. Life’s not always easy, but Leonard Cohen always manages to make me feel that even when things are at their darkest there is always, to paraphrase one of his songs, a crack that lets the light in.
**Also posted at Cannonball Read**
May 15, 2017
It's not that there are no moments of poetry in this book—it's that they're so few and far between, and when they do come they're too short.
I'm all for variations on a theme, but in Book of Longing Cohen beats his readers to a bloody pulp with repetition, turning the pale willow wand of romantic and sexual love into a knobby oak cudgel and covering it in the blood and brains of his victims. By the end of this volume we know three things about the author: he was a bad Zen monk because all he thought about was women; he loves sex as much or more than life itself; and because he can't grasp the subtleties of meter he resorts to a childish sing-song rhyme that makes already stale subject matter unfit for the mice and flies circling the lower depths of this bare cabinet of a book of poems.
Don't get me wrong, Cohen was a fantastic songwriter. I have many of his albums, and listen to them regularly. But clearly he should have kept his poetry in the recording booth.
Few poets can sing convincingly about love. Cohen isn't one of them because he conflates romantic love and adoration with sex (particularly oral sex, it seems), and so these poems are largely tired before they begin, shallow wheezes expended at the completion of mere bodily acts. If he cared more about the women and less about their bodies, his old man lungs might have swelled with sweeter air and his tongue burned with more intense songs. Instead we get self-pity, ennui, and a sense of loss that follows oddly on no previous sense of possession.
If you're in the mood for love poetry, read Donne or Shelley. If you're in the mood for Leonard Cohen, listen to Songs of Leonard Cohen (for early period) or I'm Your Man (for later period).
I'm all for variations on a theme, but in Book of Longing Cohen beats his readers to a bloody pulp with repetition, turning the pale willow wand of romantic and sexual love into a knobby oak cudgel and covering it in the blood and brains of his victims. By the end of this volume we know three things about the author: he was a bad Zen monk because all he thought about was women; he loves sex as much or more than life itself; and because he can't grasp the subtleties of meter he resorts to a childish sing-song rhyme that makes already stale subject matter unfit for the mice and flies circling the lower depths of this bare cabinet of a book of poems.
Don't get me wrong, Cohen was a fantastic songwriter. I have many of his albums, and listen to them regularly. But clearly he should have kept his poetry in the recording booth.
Few poets can sing convincingly about love. Cohen isn't one of them because he conflates romantic love and adoration with sex (particularly oral sex, it seems), and so these poems are largely tired before they begin, shallow wheezes expended at the completion of mere bodily acts. If he cared more about the women and less about their bodies, his old man lungs might have swelled with sweeter air and his tongue burned with more intense songs. Instead we get self-pity, ennui, and a sense of loss that follows oddly on no previous sense of possession.
If you're in the mood for love poetry, read Donne or Shelley. If you're in the mood for Leonard Cohen, listen to Songs of Leonard Cohen (for early period) or I'm Your Man (for later period).
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