Leonard Cohen's Bibliography (open project)

Debate on Leonard Cohen's poetry (and novels), both published and unpublished. Song lyrics may also be discussed here.
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linda_lakeside
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Post by linda_lakeside »

Hi Lizzy,
Are muses attracted to genius? Perhaps... Mystery to me.
Yes. True enough. Euterpe, Erato and their sisters have been found in the company of some very esteemed poets/lyricists/musicians. Although, even those we consider to be 'of less genius' than Leonard, have been struck by the muse as well.

My comment re: his lifestyle being his 'muse', was more in that his life is a well-spring from which he can draw. Admittedly, some poetry, or scraps thereof, have been sitting in a drawer for twenty years, then the muse hits, and three songs come from one of his scribbled drafts of a poem. Where does inspiration come from? Who knows?

This has been discussed in the forum before, and it's a conversation that could bring us back to the starting point. Who knows, Lizzy. If you had the time, on Hydra, to kick back and write about any of your experiences, you too, might be so inspired. Being in Greece helps, I'm sure, to draw the attention of a muse. ;)

These days, exposure, exposure, exposure seems to be the most important aspect of 'selling' one's product. The overly exposed, who are selling millions of CDs, have likely never been visited by a muse. Just a stylist, a makeup artist, and an indefatigable manager/agent.

These things are a mystery. So many little coincidences, being at the right place at the right time, etc. help in the making of a work ... well, work. It seems that right now, Leonard is receiving much more exposure than he has in many years. Not just within the 'Cohen community', but in the kind of circumstance (Indigo) that he may not have participated in, in the past.

Whatever it is that makes Leonard's pen write, is good enough for me. As long as he doesn't dishonour whichever muse it is that visits him, he'll be alright. And I don't think Leonard is silly enough to dishonour his muse.
8)

See you,
Linda.
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lizzytysh
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Post by lizzytysh »

So true, all of that, Linda. Great thoughts 8) .

I loved the fact of being in Greece as, perhaps, being a better positioning for attracting a muse 8) :lol: . Then, too, look at all he wrote whilst being on Mt. Baldy, where the art of doing 'nothing' was the order of the day... and the days seemed filled with it. Yet, Leonard's pen... wow.

Leonard also seems to simply understand his Fate.

These speculations are fun, aren't they? "And so it was written in the book of the living that Leonard Norman Cohen shall . . . the Muses gathered and all were assigned."


~ Lizzy :D
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

Hi ladies... thanks your your nice words, Linda, and I must say again I am so glad to see you back on board again. In any case, I have this feeling that this place is again blooming in last month or so... Maybe that's new rush of Leonard's stuff (although there's so little feedback about the Book - I guess poetry is harder to penetrate than a record?) Ah well, so many things were mentioned, that I forget what I wanted to write here. One thing, Linda: back in that old thread about "I've been delivered" I wrote immediately that I actually did heard that Sharon's whispering over the mix, on Panasonic equipment (I didn't hear it earlier on Sony's). So since then, I, like, only wait for that moment when I listen to the song (By The Rivers Dark, for those who don't know).
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Post by Simon »

'Sparrows' in CIV/n, vol vii, p 14

Tom. I'm still looking for Lord On Peel Street but I can't find CIV/n. Do you know waht CIV stands for?

What was Thoughts Of A Landsman. Are you also looking for that essay as well?
Cohen is the koan
Why else would I still be stuck here
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

Hey Simon,

According to Rawlins&Dorman book, "Two Sparrows: Thoughts Of A Landsman" was Leonard's essay. They said it's now housed in the Rare Books Collection of the MacLennen Library, McGill University, and that five poems were included (incl. uncollected "Lord On Peel Street"). But Rawlins/Dorman's book is from 1989, so maybe it was moved. I guess it is Leonard's actual manuscript of the essay!

CIV/n is Ezra Pound's abbreviation for "civilisation". It was the main magazine of Montreal's school of poets, edited by Louis Dudek and his wife, and published at McGill, I believe.
With Layton and Aileen Collins, whom he later married, he founded an avant-garde magazine in 1954, CIV/n, and in 1956 established The McGill Poetry Series, launching the careers of Leonard COHEN and Daryl Hine.
Source: http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/inde ... RTA0002426

There's also the book I am planning to purchase after the Summer:
CIV/n: A Literary Magazine of the Fifties, ed. by Aileen Collins, Vehicule Press, 1982, Montreal

Image

Inno Dubellar's description at AbeBooks.com says:
First printing of this book which reprints all the issues of CIV/n, originally published in the 1950's with contributors like Layton, Cohen, etc. 267 pp. + photos, index, footnotes, 8vo, trade softcov er. Nearly Fine copy. Uncommon book, the original magazines are nearly impossible to find.
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

I found the essay in McGill Library Online Catalogue at Muse site: long long url of mcgill library browser :-)
Author Cohen, Leonard, 1934-
Title The sparrows ; Thoughts of a landsman / Leonard Cohen. --
Published [s.l. : s.n.], 1955.
Description [2], [5] leaves ; 28 cm. --
Series Chester Macnaghten prize for creative writing (McGill University) ; 1955.


Location Info folio PS8235 C6 C45 1955 [By Consultation] Rare Book Division McLennan Bldg, 4th floor


LC Subject McGill University.
LC Subject College verse, Canadian -- Québec (Province) -- Montréal.


Browse the Shelf PS8235 C6 C45 1955


Note Typescript.
Poems.
Awarded first prize in 1955.
Contributor McGill University.
Variant Title Thoughts of a landsman.
System Number 000122465
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

All original issues, price, only 275 UK pounds:-) Offered by bookseller from Halifax.

Image
Description: (COHEN, Leonard). CIV/n. Nos.1-5. Editor : Aileen Collins. Associates : Jackie Gallagher, Wanda Staniszewska. Illustrated by Rozymski. Montreal : CIV/n, n.d. [1953-1954]. Various paginations. 4to, card covers. All leaves are printed on one-side only. No.1. (1),1-26 leaves. Contributions by Don Forth, Phyllis Webb, Louis Dudek, Avi Boxer, Irving Layton, R.S. Edgar, Raymond Souster, D.G. Jones, E.W. mandel, Don Clift, Alexander St.John Swift, Frederick Anderson. No.2. (1),1-22,(1) leaves. . Irving Layton, Dael L. Turnbull, Raymond Souster, Avi Boxer, F. Fyfes, Doris Strachan, D.G. Jones, R.S. Edgar, Marianne Macdonald, Ralph Gustafson, Alexander St.John Swift, Don Clift, Herbert Lewis, plus Views and Reviews. No.3. (1),1-26 leaves + 2 leaves of line drawings. . Miriam Waddington, Ralph Gustafson, Raymond Souster, Aileen Collins, A. St.J. Swift, George Seferis, R.S. Edgar, Irving layton, Thecla, Phyllis Webb, Howard Sergeant, Melech Ravitch, Gael L. Turnbull, Louis Dudek. No.4. (1),1-22 leaves + 2 leaves of line drawings. . PhyllisWebb, Louis Dudek, John Sproston, Robert Creeley, Irving Layton, F.C. Fyfe, Avi Boxer, Lee R. Hayman, Leonard N. Cohen, Cid Corman, Raymond Souster, Robert Rogers, David Kalugin, D.G. Jones, Camillo Pellizzi. Illustrations by Betty Sutherfland. No.5. (2),1-28 leaves + 2 leaf of line drawing. . Irving Layton, Robert A. Currie, Robert Creeley, Gael L. Turnbull, D.G. Jones, Louis Dudek, William Robert Fournier, Sanford Edelstein, Ian Clark, F.C. Fyfe, Leonard Norman Cohen, Robert Rogers, Raymond Souster, Lu Seymour, Alex St.-J. Swift, Lee Ruchard Hayman, Anne Wilkinson, Charles Guenther, plus Views & Reviews. The first five issues (of a total of seven) of this rare poetry magazine of the 1950s. Includes four early poems by Leonard Cohen : "An Halloween Poem to Delight My Younger Friends (Ou sont les jeunes?)" [No.4, p.8]; "Satan in Westmount", "Folk Song", and "Les Viuex" [No.5, pp.11-12]. Light edgewear, lightly rubbed, previous owner's name to front cover of No.5, else very good set of a scarce item. the 5 numbers for 550.00. Bookseller Inventory # 47538
Last edited by tomsakic on Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

I believe the cover picture shows the Montreal poets, Leonard among them. but I'm not sure. I believe I saw this picture used elsewhere.

From publisher:
CIV/n
Aileen Collins (Editor)

CIV/n was a dynamic magazine published in Montreal between the years 1953 and 1955. In only seven issues it published the early work of Leonard Cohen, Eli Mandel, Louis Dudek, Robert Creeley, Phyllis Webb, Raymond Souster, Irving Layton, Robert Currie, Gael Turnbull, Avi Boxer, Cid Corman, D.G. Jones, Charles Olson and A.J.M. Smith. As Irving Layton states in his essay Recalling the 50's included in this book: There was tremendous excitement in the air—anyhow, in certain streets and alleyways of Montreal—and it signaled the post-war ferment that was to knock into a cocked hat some of the cherished literary and political notions of the past. In this book all the issues of CIV/n have been reprinted along with Michael Gnarowski's Index to the magazine which appeared in 1965. Previously unpublished photographs and letters complete this flashback to literary Montreal of thirty years ago.

And also: we discussed civ/n here: viewtopic.php?t=3238&sid=cdf17bdc7bdb00 ... 68cffde351
Simon
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Post by Simon »

I'll try to get scans of Lord On Peel Street this week or next...

Cheers
Cohen is the koan
Why else would I still be stuck here
Simon
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Post by Simon »

Lord on Peel Street

He has returned from countless wars,
blinded and hopelessly lame,
He endures the morning streetcars
and counts ages in a Peel Street room.

Once for music he tamed a banjo
and softened Bach in a wooden whistle,
but he let the flutes and folksongs go
for the slow march under his window.

He is kept in his room like a court jew,
to consult on plagues or hurricanes,
and he never walks with them on the sea
or joins their lonely sidewalk games.

Fom: The sparrows; Thoughts of a landsman; 1955.
Cohen is the koan
Why else would I still be stuck here
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

There's marvellous Leonard Cohen Bibliography on xwiki.com, edited by Brian Cameron.






Poems Published in Magazines, Literary Magazines, and Journals
Before the Story. The Tamarack Review. No. 6 (Winter, 1958): 61-62.
Gift. The Tamarack Review. No. 6 (Winter, 1958): 63.
Bait. The Tamarack Review. No. 6 (Winter, 1958): 64.
Celebration. Canadian Art. 18 (September-October, 1961): 295. Reprinted in Erotic Poetry: The Lyrics, Ballads, Idyls, and Epics of Love - Classical to Contemporary. William Cole, ed. Random House, 1963.
Days of Kindness; Paris Models; When Soon the. Toronto Life. 23, No. 12, pp. F10, F27, 23.
Dead Song. Queen's Quarterly. 66 (Summer, 1959): 303-304.
The Flowers that I Left in the Ground. Queen's Quarterly. 66 (Summer, 1959): 303-304.
The Fly. Forge. 43 (Spring 19..): 43.
Had We Nothing to Prove. Forge. (Spring 19..): 43.
Orchard of Shore Trees. Queen's Quarterly. 66 (Summer, 1959): 304-305.
Poem for Marc Chagall. The Tamarack Review. No. 6 (Winter, 1958): 62-63. Reprinted in The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English and French. A.J.M. Smith, ed. Oxford University Press, 1960.
Poem: This is For You. Mademoiselle. 64 (January, 1967): 44.
Song. Maclean's Magazine. 75 (October 20, 1962): 33.
Twelve o'clock chant. Queen's Quarterly. 66 (Summer, 1959): 303-304.
Excerpts from Death of a Lady's Man. Exile. 5, No. 1 (1977): 5-60.
Days of Kindness. Toronto Life, August 1989 v23 i12 pF10.
When Even The. Toronto Life, August 1989 v23 i12 p23.
Paris Models. Toronto Life, August 1989 v23 i12 pF27.
Suzanne Wears a Leather Coat. Books in Canada. Nov 2004, Vol. 33 Issue 8, p18.

Poems in Anthologies
(no editor). The Edges of Time: A Celebration of Canadian Poetry. Toronto : Seraphim Editions, 1999. 210 p., ISBN 0969963955. Contains: "I stopped to listen" and "Not knowing where to go."
Rosengarten, Morton. The Lines of the Poet: 13 Poems: 14 Portraits of the Poets. Poems selected and introduced by D.G. Jones. Toronto : Monk Bretton Books, 1981. 35 leaves, 14 leaves of plates. "Introduction … signed by the editor, the Preface by the artist, and each poem by its author (with the exception of that by A.J.M. Smith, who died before the work was completed)"--Colophon. "130 copies … have been made of which 100, numbered 1/100 to 100/100, are for sale. There is one bon à tirer copy; 11 Artists's Proof copies, numbered AP 1/11 to AP 11/11; and 18 hors commerce copies, numbered HC 1/18 to HC 18/18, reserved for the poets and the other makers of the book."
Wayman, Tom, ed. The Dominion of Love: An Anthology of Canadian Love Poems. Madeira Park, B.C. : Harbour Pub., 2001. 159 p., ISBN 1550172387. Contains "You have the lovers."
two unknown poems. Evidence. Toronto, circa 1961. (reference to these poems in: Robert Fulford on Books: Periodical Notebook, Toronto Daily Star. Tuesday, October 10, 1961, p. 36.)
Last edited by tomsakic on Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

And there's the confirmation that there's short story "Tamara". I recall I read somewhere that the chapter about Tamara from The Favourite Game was printed as short story.

Short Stories
Barbers and Lovers. Ingluvin. No. 2 (January-March, 1961): 10-19.
Luggage Fire Sale. Partisan Review. 36, No. 1 (Winter, 1961 or 1969): 91-99. Reprinted in Parallel. 1, No. 2 (May-June, 1966 or 1961): 40-44.
Trade. The Tamarack Review. No. 20 (Summer, 1961): 59-65. Co-written with Irving Layton. [???]
Tamara. Cavalier Magazine. (September, 1962?) pp. 58-61.
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Post by Simon »

Tom Sakic wrote:There's marvellous Leonard Cohen Bibliography on xwiki.com, edited by Brian Cameron.
Great work indeed. Is Brian a member of the Forum?

So you are only missing Bait from The Tamarack Review, 1958?
Cohen is the koan
Why else would I still be stuck here
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tomsakic
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Post by tomsakic »

I checked his name thru Google - he used to post on the Files' old, black message board before we transfered to this Forum, so he was around here.

I didn't find any traces of "Bait" except in his bibliography; actually, I wonder about his sources - where did he find all those reviews etc. It's amazing.
Simon
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Post by Simon »

Bait

You stay in the grove
To ambush the unicorn.
I don’t know what the hunters gave,
But all the money of the sun
Falling betwen the shadows of your face ...........(Between here is missing one e in the original pubication)
In yellow coin
Could not bribe away the scorn
Which fastens up your mouth.

For whom are those hard lips?
The hunters creeping through the green
Beside their iron-collared hounds?
Or that towered head who soon
Will close his eyes
Between your aproned knees?

And when the animal is leashed
To the pomegranate tree,
Don’t come by my prison room
Singing your victory,
Or charm the guards to undo the chains
With which I was bound before the hunt
When I cried that I was a man.

You stay in the grove
To ambush the unicorn.
And after wander to the poisoned streams
Which the unicorn will never clean,
And greet the good beasts thirsting there.
Then follow through the holes and caves
The animals who poisoned it
And cohabit in each lair.

I don’t know what the hunters gave,
But all the money of the sun
Falling between the shadows of your face
In yellow coin
Could not bribe away the scorn
Which fastens up your mouth.

From : The Tamarack Review. No. 6 (Winter, 1958): 64.
Last edited by Simon on Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Cohen is the koan
Why else would I still be stuck here
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