Parasites of Heaven

by Leonard Cohen

To mark the publication of Leonard Cohen's final book, The Flame , McClelland & Stewart is proud to reissue six beautiful editions of Cohen's cherished early works of poetry, many of which are back in print for the first time in decades.

A freshly packaged new series for devoted Leonard Cohen fans and those who wish to discover one of the world's most adored and celebrated writers.

Originally published by McClelland & Stewart in 1966, Parasites of Heaven came in the wake of the success of Cohen's second novel, Beautiful Losers . While not as ambitious and singular as his three previous collections, Parasites of Heaven is an essential document in Cohen's evolution as it contains poems that would go on to form the basis of some of his most beloved songs, including "Suzanne" and "Avalanche."

Genres: Poetry, Canada

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Leonard 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".

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leonard Cohen is so brilliant. I really don't have more to say than that. Except oh man am I glad my Montreal-West dad forced him upon me relentlessly as a kid. <3 (I read this over my dad's would-have-been-70th birthday and it was very special. Wish, as always, we could chat about it, JCD).

[federico garcía LOCA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susanne, take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls feed me tea and oranges all the way from China

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parasites of Heaven is Cohen's weakest book of poetry, and while that is unfortunate, it is for an array of noteworthy reasons. Unlike most of Cohen's other books, Parasites of Heaven is best read as an accompanying work to another text: Beautiful Losers. Parasites of Heaven is also a book published during his time on Hydra in the middle of a string of methamphetamine adventures, which - I am sure - explain a lot of the erratic language and shallow themes that run throughout the text. Another reason why Parasites of Heaven falters is because of Cohen's decision to change career paths. Cohen publicly declared that he would slow down his writing of poems and books (entirely) in order to write music. This can be seen at the end of Parasites of Heaven where the classic songs "Suzzane" and "The Master Song" are located. Overall, only a few poems stand out in this collection (including an earlier poem for Suzanne Verdal that I completely forgot about). As a whole, Parasites of Heaven does not bring anything too radical to the table (except perhaps Cohen's exploitation of amphetamines) and is a book best left only for the hardcore Cohen fans.

[Rebecca Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

For serious Cohen students: this is the poetry collection in which the songwriter begins to emerge. I don't mean that merely in the obvious sense that it includes two poems that became early songs, but in the broader sense that the poems begin to show the forms and arcs that Cohen would develop most fully in his songwriting.

[Antonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Heroes and near-heroes, anointed children aimed at their waiting constellations, they may disdain to implore the horizontal world with words and organizing metaphors, but I do not have their balance, how many do, I am not aimed at anything, I am not about to ascend toward my glory, so I must blunder among my tetherings, I must bargain for what love I'll get, outside my brief particular story no passion will unfold me, no particular has claimed me so l must indulge myself in the seedy politics of the general, and cry at gods to prove gods unreal."

[Kasandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am starting to think that attempting to review of poetry is like trying to describe a specific food to a person with no taste buds. If you like the food, say asparagus, you'll describe it in a way that would encourage the tasteless person to think perhaps they'd like it too, when in fact, they might find asparagus disgusting if able to describe it for themselves. It's all so subjective.

I liked parts of this, really liked other parts, and disliked a little. I find it so interesting to go back and read poetry published in the 60s and 70s, because it seems so little of what was new and interesting then would be found so, and published, now, so you're often reading clearly dated work but enjoying the time capsule effect at the same time. Many of the poems are songs as well, or became songs, which I enjoy, and there's a lot of rhyme employed, often to funny and surprising effect. Is this great poetry? This was fun to read, and the pieces I found unapproachable/overly personal for my taste still contained images and lines that were wonderful.

If you write poetry, it's hard (at least it is for me) to comment without viewing it at times through the lens of your own work/how you would have written the same piece (assuming you would have thought to write it at all, which of course you probably wouldn't have). I can see why people enjoy poetry I don't, at least most of the time. I can also see why some people hate, or don't "get", poetry I really like. Since I rely so much on sound when I write, and on attempts at musical phrasing, I usually end up liking poetry written by songwriters, or at least identifying with the work easily. All that to say I liked this!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sadly just don't like poetry, but I did love the Montreal references.

[I.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection was quite interesting to read as it has the early forms of songs that made up the first albums: Suzanne, Avalanche, master song, etc. Well worth checking out, especially for completists or super fans.

[Aaronlisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this collection is a good perspective of how Cohen’s writing evolved and how he went from being a poet to a lyricist.

[Mike Futcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A welcome dose of early Leonard Cohen, Parasites of Heaven has been the hardest for me to source here in England. Long out-of-print, it was the one remaining book of the late artist's poetry I hadn't read, and eventually I sourced a reprint from Cohen's native Canada. The book satisfies more for that sense of completion as a fan, rather than any stellar poetry of its own. The lines are fine, and possessing of that romantic, heavenly, forlorn troubadour feeling that Cohen cultivated across a magnificent decades-long career, but there is no real standout poem in this slight volume. The inclusion of 'Suzanne' and 'Avalanche' towards the end of the book give Parasites of Heaven its strongest moments and emphasise that, while his poetry is a pleasant diversion for his more devoted fans, Leonard Cohen's more masterly work was delivered in song.

[Bruno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed a good amount of the poems in here. A couple of them turned into some of my favorite Cohen songs in the future, they largely still have the same effects as they were poems. Some of the earlier poems as well as the long form writing doesn't hit me as well as the later writing. Definitely has some of my favorite Cohen poems.

[Florence ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Who doesn't give his heart to things that soar, kites or jet planes or a sharp distant sail? I tried to give more than my heart, I tried to yield my loathing, my ambition, all my tiny sicknesses, I tried to give away a new desire which I had hardly suspected but which was growing violently in the metal sunlight, like a germ culture suddenly surrounded by its own ideal conditions.”

[Myra Breckinridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this is like seeing the words spin in Leonard’s mind until they formed the man he would become.

[S. Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of verse. I think I prefer Cohen's prose-poetry paragraphs to his straight poetry, but the majority of his work is sharp and piercing.

[seriy moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

im a simp for cohen

[Daniel Benevides · Rating 3 out of 5]

Três estrelas é pouco. Por outro lado, há muitos poemas jogados, sem pai nem mãe. Mas tem Suzanne, pela primeira vez.

[Milena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of the entire collection of poems, the only two I liked were Fingerprints and Suzanne; this piece simply wasn't for me

1.5 ⭐

[Jeffrey Greening · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems in here remind me of old girlfriends … “snow is falling” is my Tracy poem.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best, but it has “Suzanne”!

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

☕️🍊

[Luca Staszko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leonard Cohen was yearning and romancing while writing these poems

[Nick McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parasites of Heaven was written in the midst of Cohen's drug-addled spiel while living in Greece. It's an interesting book as you can tell that the drugs were impacting his writing, and yet he doesn't veer so far over the cliff to make the poetry contained inside not presentable. Some of it is strange, to be sure, but the themes are often no less clear than they were in his previous three books.

And in that light there is a certain appeal to this book as it shows Cohen in a clearly different mental state as that found for most of his life. For a brief period of his life he let all practicality and logic behind and did whatever he wanted: got too much sun, did drugs, and wrote whatever he wanted to.

Around this time in Cohen's life he was going through a major transition in his writing style. In 'Let Us Compare Mythologies' and 'The Spice-Box of Earth' there is major influence from Irving Layton, and more traditional Canadian poetry, where in 'Flowers for Hitler' Cohen departs from this earlier voice.

In this title Cohen shows the date many of the poems were written, and seems to be conveying a transition from poems that were a bit disingenuous (Parasites) in the late 50s, to others that were more assertive, confident, and sincere toward the mid 60s (just before he became a song-writer).

After Parasites of Heaven his voice as a poet changed dramatically for the better, in my opinion. This book (and to a lesser extent Flowers of Hitler) is the seed of his new voice that lasted up until Death of a Lady's Man (the book).

[Sameen Shakya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a lot I can say about this book that I haven't said about every other Cohen book I have reviewed.

Parasites of Heaven by Leonard Cohen contains pleasant poems that are quietly powerful.

Reading them, reading the eroticism and passion they are imbued with, is like being kissed by a lover you've long wanted to be kissed by.

[Juan Luis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quizá mereciera una relectura, pero para animar su gusto. Algunas páginas las arrancaría. Otros poemas los masticaría y me relamería. El conjunto no se deja querer, y he tenido que ejercer la voluntad para terminarlo...

[Bejohnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I thought. ..very difficult to understand the authors motives

[Michael]

Muddled, lacking the spartan economics of the first couple of books, but brilliant nevertheless.