Book of Longing

A collection of poems, including many written during Cohen's time in a Zen monastery. Anyone familiar with any of his other work will probably find the themes and contents here unsurprising: sex, love, loneliness, and desire, the sacred and the earthy and the places where the two meet, anger and sadness and wistfulness and acceptance, the darkness and the light in the world, all intermixed with little personal moments and glimmerings of self-aware, self-deprecating humor.

Some of these poems instantly made sense to me and evoked thoughts and feelings I could relate to. Others were obscure enough that I suspect only the poet himself really knew who and what they were about. Most fell somewhere in between, which seems like a pretty good show more place for poetry to fall. Although, I must say, I'm usually not a very good reader of poetry (or poetry isn't a particularly good medium for me as a reader), as I often react poorly when I don't feel like I "get" a poem. It makes me feel uncultured and dumb, I suppose, which makes me feel resentful. But Leonard Cohen, as I realized the last time I read one of his poetry collections, circumvents that problem for me entirely, because I take his poems in exactly the spirit I take his song lyrics -- indeed, not a few of these have also appeared as songs on his albums -- and I've never felt dumb not understanding a song lyric, only interested in what I could make out of it for myself. And, as with his music, there is a lot to be made out of these poems. show less

better than poetry
is my poetry
which refers
to everything
that is beautiful and
dignified, but is
neither of these itself."
-- 'Better', pg. 11.

I don't usually read poetry and so I don't really know how to review it, but I am a fan of Leonard Cohen's music and I can say that his work holds up as well on paper as it does on vinyl. From the very first poem of this modest collection, in which he proclaims "Desire the horse, Depression the cart" (pg. 1), Cohen is on top form. Of course, given his fame as a songwriter, it is easy to forget nowadays that Cohen started out as a poet, and so he is on familiar ground here. He still has great affection for music (see 'His Master's Voice' on pg. 3), but his skill with the written word ensures that many show more of the selections in Book of Longing are stand-alone poems that you don't dismiss as merely song lyrics without the beat.

The selections herein are also impressively diverse, being romantic, spiritual, humorous, profound, self-deprecating or erotic, sometimes all at once. Many of the poems deal with his experience with Buddhism and invoke such teachings though, as he amusingly notes, these lessons were "so imperfectly grasped that I cannot be accused either of stealing or absorbing them" (pg. 232). Indeed, his attitude towards spirituality is often grumpy and humorous, and one can detect a longing for materialism in 'The Lovesick Monk' (pg. 13). But whilst Cohen can be cynical ("The book of love I read was wrong, It had a happy ending" - pg. 191), most of his songs are positive ("When hatred with his package comes, You forbid delivery." - pg. 55), if not necessarily upbeat ("In spite of the ache in your heart about the girl you never found, and the fact that after years of spiritual rigour, you did not manage to enlighten yourself, a certain cheerfulness will begin to arise out of your crushed hopes and intentions." - pg. 66).

Cohen also warns us against reading too deeply into his words ("Do not decode these cries of mine - They are the road, and not the sign." - pg. 42) but simply enjoy them (Undeciphered let my song, rewire circuits wired wrong." - pg. 43). And enjoy them we do.

Personal favourites include: 'My Life in Robes', 'S.O.S. 1995', 'Seisen is Dancing', 'You Are Right, Sahara', 'My Baby Wasn't There', 'If You Knew', 'How Could I Have Doubted', 'The Paris Sky', 'The Faithless Wife', 'Suggestions' and 'Report to R.S.B.' Oh, and of course:

"You go your way
I'll go your way too."
-- 'The Sweetest Little Song', pg. 111." show less

If you or I wrote this poem

Darling, I now have a butter dish
that is shaped like a cow

would it be accepted for publication?

Even if the 'you' in that question is Les Murray or Seamus Heaney or John Tranter or Ezra Pound
I think you'll agree that the most likely answer is no.

But in Leonard Cohen's Book of Longing it shares a whole expensive page with a tiny drawing of just such a butter dish. Such are the disadvantages of celebrity.

This book is written for more than twenty years, from India to Mt. Baldy. Leonard Cohen always has his way of writing lyrics for his music. Same with this compilation of poetries, they can sing by themselves. Some of his poems were brutally honest about his feelings--sensual reverie, spirituality, and desire. The poetries are accompanied by his sometimes provocative sketches that give us more depth to the story. However, some poetries are not as strong as the other. And much like other poetry books that I've read, there are some works that I can’t relate to. Regardless, it inspired me to write poetry again but with the courage to be more honest.⁣

“You should go
from place to place
recovering the poems
that have been written for you
to show more which you can affix your signature.
Don't discuss these matters
with anyone.
Retrieve. Retrieve.
When the basket is full
someone will appear
to whom you can present it.” show less

To be fair, I'm not the biggest fan of poetry and included in this book is a note from the poet himself that it's not intended to be read cover to cover (but really, how else do you read a book?). There were poems I loved, ones I found eerie, and a few where I think the poet's humor missed its mark. And likely, someone who really loves poetry would get a lot more out of this volume and could tell me out my interpretations are wrong. Overall, this wasn't a bad book, but I think it might be more enjoyable to the reader who likes to skip around in a text.

I would have been shocked if I had not loved this collection of Leonard Cohen's poems, as he has been one of my favorite poet/songwriters for decades. His poetry continued to plumb his deep yearnings -- sexual, philosophical, and spiritual. A reminder of how much his voice is missed.

Not all of the poems were for me, but it was still an enjoyable journey to read this book. I found it more enjoyable to read in the morning when my mind was fresh; if I read at the end of the day I found I didn't have as much patience for the lonely/horny/existential poet.