Most people, including myself until recently, know Leonard Cohen as the deep&warm-voiced singer and songwriter of beautiful folk songs, the most famous one being "Hallelujah".
Before switching to music, though, he began his artistic career as a novel writer and poet (even after he started singing he remained horrified of performing in public for a long time).
This is his first collection of poems, dating back to the mid fifties of the twentieth century. They are all free verse, not much strict metric or rhyme to be found. Similarly to what can be stated for Federico Garcia Lorca, which Cohen mentioned as one of his inspiring authors, his poetry is best enjoyed focusing on the whole rather than the single segments, on images and sounds rather than literal meaning. His verses touch contrasting themes as sex, violence, religion, spirituality, mysticism, poverty and immigration.
For me finding out this facet of this artist's talent was an amazing surprise. I guess it will also affect the way I listen to his music from now on.
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