The Only Tourist in Havana

Debate on Leonard Cohen's poetry (and novels), both published and unpublished. Song lyrics may also be discussed here.
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Cate
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Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:27 am

The Only Tourist in Havana

Post by Cate »

From the files http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/poem.html#onlytourist and Flowers for Hitler

The only tourist in Havana turns his thoughts homeward from "Flowers for Hitler"

Come, my brothers,
let us govern Canada,
let us find our serious heads,
let us dump asbestos on the White House,
let us make the French talk English,

. . . . not only here but everywhere,
let us torture the Senate individually
. . . . until they confess,
let us purge the New Party,
let us encourage the dark races
. . . . so they'll be lenient
. . . . when they take over,
let us make the CBC talk English,
let us all lean in one direction
. . . . and float down
. . . . to the coast of Florida,
let us have tourism,
let us flirt with the enemy,
let us smelt pig-iron in our back yards,
let us sell snow
. . . . to under-developed nations,
(It is true one of our national leaders
was a Roman Catholic?)
let us terrorize Alaska,
let us unite
. . . . Church and State,
let us not take it lying down,
let us have two Governor Generals
. . . . at the same time,
let us have another official language,
let us determine what it will be,
let us give a Canada Council Fellowship
. . . . to the most original suggestion,
let us teach sex in the home
. . . . to parents,
let us threaten to join the U.S.A.
. . . . and pull out at the last moment,
my brothers, come,
our serious heads are waiting for us somewhere
. . . . like Gladstone bags abandoned
. . . . after a coup d'état,
let us put them on very quickly,
let us maintain a stony silence
. . . . on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Havana
April 1961
Not meaning to be political but the passing of Fidel Castro is significant and there was a Leonard connection there. A recent short article about Leonard's time in Cuba - http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/cohen-in ... -1.3852156
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