English, World, Canada, Leonard Cohen, Poetry, Languages

These Heroics by Leonard Cohen

By T.

10 April 2011

4.49k

These Heroics
Leonard Cohen

If I had a shining head
and people turned to stare at me
in the streetcars;
and I could stretch my body
through the bright water
and keep abreast of fish and water snakes;
if I could ruin my feathers
in flight before the sun;
do you think that I would remain in this room,
reciting poems to you,
and making outrageous dreams
with the smallest movements of your mouth?

MARGINALIA

I really, really, really want that book.

KEEP READING

SHARED WITH GRATITUDE

This poem appeared in Selected Poems, 1956-1968 by Leonard Cohen, published by Bantam Books, 1971.

ABOUT LEONARD COHEN

Leonard Cohen’s artistic career began in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. He published two novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers, and ten books of poetry, most recently Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs and Book of Longing. During a recording career that spanned almost fifty years, he released fourteen studio albums, the last of which, You Want It Darker, was released in 2016. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and

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