Leonard Cohen's posthumously published book of poetry "The Flame" serves to be one of the greatest books of poetry I have ever read, and I have read quite a bit of poetry books lately... and yes, I have read my fair share of awful Insta-poetry, books that make me question whether I even enjoy poetry.
But let me say, reading this was like a breath of fresh air.
I am not a huge fan of Leonard Cohen by any means. Although I love some of his old songs-- "Suzanne", "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye", "First We Take Manhattan"-- and of course his album "You Want it Darker". But I by no means say that he is my favourite artist.
Reading this book, however, made me want to rediscover him, and take a deeper listen to his music. Because the way that Leonard Cohen interacts with words-- it's different. I don't know how to explain it. You can tell that he is writing these poems and lyrics not to impress people, not to sell, not to seem more distinguished or prominent, not to seem deep. Unlike a lot of other poetry I have read, Leonard Cohen is writing simply out of pure enjoyment. Not to say that other poets don't truly cherish the beauty of words and writing; but when it comes to Cohen, the words don't have to try, or rhyme, or make sense. He writes what he feels, and what he thinks, and sometimes it seems simple, or incoherent, or obvious. The rhymes are sometimes stilted, sometimes imperfect, but I think that's what I love most about them. Even in his other books, published while he was alive, such as Book of Longing, Leonard Cohen's poetry is so... raw. It's stunning because it never feels filtered. Just seeing the words scrawled through Cohen's notebooks, and sensing the emotions put into it, so candid and un-sensationalized. The poems aren't extremely polished but they have some sort of quality to them that just... satisfies your soul.
It's inspiring, because my whole life I kind of believed that poetry had to be perfect. It had to have some complex, deep, metaphor that made it difficult to understand. That was what made good poetry. Leonard Cohen is more balanced than that; he simply writes and I don't know any other way to put it.
And I guess what made this book particularly meaningful to me was that it opened up my eyes to what poetry could look like. I mean, I am a believer that words, with the intention of being poetry, become poetry. Even the Instagram poetry with cheesy lines like"sometimes friends / are the only escape we have from ourselves", etc., I believe are poetry. I think that as soon as we start putting boundaries on what poetry can and cannot look like, we put walls on self-expression. Although I do not enjoy Instagram poetry whatsoever... I think it's important that we let the definition of poetry remain open.
Poetry can be accidental. On the page, the drift of your own mind, and the ideas that come to it, can turn into poetry. The moments you scrawl down when you're feeling particularly vulnerable can be poetry. Or the collections of words that may seem incoherent that you write down, but upon a second look, turn into poetry. Poetry can be intentional, or it can simply be sort of "free association" poems; strands of words that connect whatever comes to your head.
The thing is... I'm glad people enjoy Instagram poetry. Just as I am glad some people will dislike Cohen's style of poetry and lyricism. Because it means that there is so much room for what poetry can look like, and what types of poetry will speak to other people.
Although I can never write a poem quite as lovely as Leonard Cohen, with his range of slapdash vocabulary and alluring themes, the book inspired me. It made be realize that the hesitation before writing is what kills the writing. Although a lot of Cohen's work can be a hit or miss, I realized the fear shouldn't be to miss. It should be to write as much as you can, no matter what the outcome looks like.
Whether you are a fan of Cohen or not... read this and tell me if you feel the same engrossing, ever-compassing feeling of being united with someone who is truly in love with words. Who finds pure enjoyment in just writing. Because with Cohen, you really feel it. Poetry was his escape, his way to truly express himself, and it's so gripping and captivating to read. You can truly feel every emotion that he experiences, permeating into you as you read. It's unusual how absorbing this book is, just because the words are so vulnerable and straight from his heart, and mind.
Anyways I could keep on writing and writing about this so I should probably stop. But SERIOUSLY. I dunno. This was a great, great, great book.
I love this