Stranger Music

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The publication of <i>Stranger Music: Selected Poems &amp; Songs</i> brought Leonard Cohen's poetry, which had long been obscured by his intermittently prolific recording career, back into prominence. His poems will be instantly familiar to fans of his music or novels; they share the same cynical romanticism, morbid eroticism &amp; ironic humour. Many of his poems are spare &amp; declamatory, relying on the intensity of their imagery &amp; the wryness of their speaker to produce their effect. The opening lines of "The Drawer's Condition on November 28, 1961" are exemplary: "Is there anything emptier/ than the drawer where/you used to store your opium?/How like a black-eyed Susan/blinded into ordinary daisy/is my pretty kitchen drawer!/How like a nose sans nostrils/is my bare wooden drawer!/How like an eggless basket!/How like a pool sans tortoise!" Cohen is such an old-fashioned bard that it's often difficult to believe he inhabits the same literary landscape that nurtures postmodern experimentalism. Most of his poems are richly lyrical, which made his turn to songwriting a natural one. Published collections of lyrics are seldom very satisfying, tho, &amp; even his best songs, such as the unforgettable "Suzanne" or the sublimely spare "Anthem," lose most of their intensity on paper. <i>Stranger Music</i> contains material from nearly all of his important works; even his experimental novel <i>Beautiful Losers</i> is represented. Cohen has published very little new material since 1983's <i>Book of Mercy</i>, &amp;, unless he enters another period of productivity, <i>Stranger Music</i> will remain the definitive Cohen collection for a very long time.--Jack Illingworth