relook at Book of Mercy

Debate on Leonard Cohen's poetry (and novels), both published and unpublished. Song lyrics may also be discussed here.
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blonde madonna
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by blonde madonna »

I stopped to listen, but he did not come. I began again with a sense of loss. As this sense deepened I heard him again. I stopped stopping and I stopped starting, and I allowed myself to be crushed by ignorance. This was a strategy, and didn't work at all. Much time, years were wasted in such a minor mode. I bargain now. I offer buttons for his love. I beg for mercy. Slowly he yields. Haltingly he moves toward his throne. Reluctantly the angels grant to one another permission to sing. In a transition so delicate it cannot be marked, the court is established on beams of golden symmetry, and once again I am a singer in the lower choirs, born fifty years ago to raise my voice this high, and no higher.
Symmetry is an important principle of harmony, both in the universe and in art. I think Leonard uses it in this verse to imply, ‘a transistion so delicate it cannot be marked’, a coming back to God.

I know of 'golden symmetry' as a term used in the poetry of the middle ages, particularly Latin poetry. I remember a verb in the middle of the line and balancing adjectives on either side, but I might be wrong. Leonard’s use of the word ‘court’ seems to point to that meaning.

To me the lines conjure an image of divine balance and order, with Leonard in his rightful place as ‘a singer in the lower choirs’(ie. human).
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
lazariuk
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

I stopped to listen
the start of this book reminds me of the start of a song
like a bird on the wire
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
lazariuk
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

abby wrote:I'm gonna make it a point not to read what's been written before I came along about what I'm going to write about and here I am coming along without any idea what's appropriate.

I don't know who 'he' is and I don't know what 'he' was doing in Psalm 1. 'I' is safely Leonard. I'm not much interested in who he might be unless you tell me you know.
That is such a fine way to make an entrance and it reminds me so strongly how my ideas of what is appropiate are so often wrong. I don't know who 'he' is but I didn't know that I didn't know until you told that you didn't know. Does that make sense? I also like not knowing because it opened a whole range of alternatives.

You say that you are not interested in who he might be unless someone can tell you that they know, but what if I know that I usually make a lot of mistakes, we all do, in order to get to what we know and that I don't mind being the one to get a lot of mistakes out of the way. I have some thoughts of who 'he' might be that I wouldn't mind telling you. Will you make an exception for me and can I say who he might be?
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
abby
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by abby »

Who might he be?
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blonde madonna
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by blonde madonna »

If this is a private conversation forgive me but I missed the first discussions on Psalm 1 of BoM so went back to read because I love this verse. Simon made a very convincing case for ‘he’ being Roshi.
Simon wrote:I cannot help but to picture LC sitting in zazen in the zendo. It is early morning, the monks have aligned themselves symmetrically on their zafus on both sides of the zendo (as is the pratice in rinzai zendos – not so much so in soto zendos). He sees the beams of early morning golden light coming thrue some window to the floor in front of him. That is were he should be looking, such is the practice. Or is it maybe the golden glow of candles for it may still be dark outside. The Jikijitsu (Roshi, the zendo officer who leads formal sitting practice), and the Shoji (The zendo officer who serves tea) have not entered yet. Soon the morning tea ceremony will be performed and will be followed by the chanting of the sutras. LC is waiting. He is riding the wild horse that morning, that is to say debating, bargaining, knitting with his own thoughs. He is waiting for Roshi to come in and begin the formal sitting. Roshi finally comes in, haltingly (due to his age? – how else to interprete this "haltingly" here, for sure the Lord, God doesn’t move about haltingly) he walks to his zafu (in some zendo the Jikijitsu’s zafu his raised higher than those of the monks, like a throne. The monks, some reluctantly, break their meditation to join in for the chanting of the sutras.
I also was impressed by what he had to say about Leonard as a poet stressing perception in this verse.
Simon wrote:Finally a second postulate could be that choosing to describe the poetics of zen with the help of biblical judaic style, LC in fact is stressing his craving for the perception of enchantment in a universal way. Enchantment which is what poets dwell upon. Poetry is a perception before it is an expression. I interpret Leonard Cohen as someone extremely sensitive to the multi-layered poetry of the instant. His prayer, maybe, is trying to say that perception matters more than expression. Perception of the enchantment of every moment as the antidote to the appearent non sense, depressive human condition. Perception of the enchantment of every moment as self defence for the human brain against the incomprensibility of the mystery of birth and death. Poetical perception of enchantment as balance in the chaos. Such is the mercy he may be praying for.
I hope Simon forgives me this reposting of his words but they seemed relevant.

BM
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
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blonde madonna
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by blonde madonna »

lazariuk wrote:
I stopped to listen
the start of this book reminds me of the start of a song
like a bird on the wire
I don't see the connection Jack, could you explain it further?

BM
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
lazariuk
Posts: 1952
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2005 5:38 am
Location: Vancouver

Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

blonde madonna wrote:
lazariuk wrote:
I stopped to listen
the start of this book reminds me of the start of a song
like a bird on the wire
I don't see the connection Jack, could you explain it further?
It was just a feeling I got for a split second of a bird being on the wire in order to stop to listen. The fact that the second line speaks of being in a choir and the poem also speaking about being in a choir made me feel that my split second thought might possibly not be a waste of time.
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
lazariuk
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

abby wrote:Who might he be?
I tried to imagine someone that both you and I might be able to relate to, that all of us might be able to relate to and I found myself going in a certain direction. It took me to imagining being a child in some kind of adventure and stopping to listen for a friend. I wondered how far back I could go and remembered that people have reported that they were able to re-experience their birth and that they often experience a sense of loss in being seperated from their placenta. That is strange but people have said it.

A few years ago I travelled a little back in my mother's world to where she was born and came to look in the town's history records and found where her birth was recorded and what name she was given. Her brother born with her who died a couple of days later was not given a name.She never spoke of it but that must have been a very deep loss for her. So what I have been thinking is that he who did not come when Leonard stopped to listen is from some experience well before he was speaking about God or spiritual exercises.
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
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blonde madonna
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by blonde madonna »

Jack
I thought the bird was trying, in its way, to be free. What would the bird be listening for?
You earlier made a connection between this same first line and some lines from Anthem about birds singing at the break of day. So are they listening too?

BM
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
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blonde madonna
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by blonde madonna »

lazariuk wrote:I tried to imagine someone that both you and I might be able to relate to...(lots of unrelated stuff about Jack's mother and a dead baby) ...So what I have been thinking is that he who did not come when Leonard stopped to listen is from some experience well before he was speaking about God or spiritual exercises.
:?: :?: :?:

Jack, this too needs more explanation. It seems that either the connections you make to BoM are too obtuse for me or that you are in fact talking about something completely different. :?

BM
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
lazariuk
Posts: 1952
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Location: Vancouver

Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

and once again I am a singer in the lower choirs, born fifty years ago to raise my voice this high, and no higher.
I was a bit inspired recently with something Abby said about not assuming things. One of the things that I told myself that I wasn't going to assume is that higher is the direction that we want to go. It doesn't seem like despair when Leonard sings
"we'll be going down so deep, the river's going to weep"
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
lazariuk
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

blonde madonna wrote:Jack
I thought the bird was trying, in its way, to be free. What would the bird be listening for?
A friend maybe. With that line I found myself more interested in the wire than a bird.
You earlier made a connection between this same first line and some lines from Anthem about birds singing at the break of day. So are they listening too?
Obviously he is listening to them. It might be in answer to something that he said after he finally lifted his voice.
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
lazariuk
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

blonde madonna wrote:Jack, this too needs more explanation. It seems that either the connections you make to BoM are too obtuse for me or that you are in fact talking about something completely different.
I might be making a mistake but I have this idea that we can fully appreciate this book without having to know anything about Leonard's life or what books he has read. Rather we can look at his words in light of what has been our experience and by talking to each other to see what we have in common in the stuff that really happened. I have no way of knowing how that is going to happen and I don't mind at all if someone shows me in what way something I say can't be true. For people who say that they don't mind i will do the same.
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
abby
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by abby »

Jack, are you saying that the one we're waiting for is our placenta? I'm not too eager to try to imagine how that could be true, but you could be right and it could be the thing we longed for first. Can we play another game and try to think of another version of the original thing we waited for? I realize that the other things I have in mind aren't based on my experience. I just don't want my heart/homesickness to be for my placenta. And I wouldn't call it 'him.'

Abby
lazariuk
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Re: relook at Book of Mercy

Post by lazariuk »

abby wrote: Can we play another game and try to think of another version of the original thing we waited for? I realize that the other things I have in mind aren't based on my experience. Abby
Your words "can we play another game" brings to mind something Manna told me about a game that was played by french children called "War of the Buttons". It was the subject of a french novel in 1912 and was made into a movie a few times and the most recent being in 1992 using Irish children. One time it was also a quebec movie using quebec children. Maybe Manna can describe it better because she saw it more recently than I. There are a few things about it that stand out for me. It involved a lot of humilation. Mainly it was boys trying to humilate each other by stealing each others buttons and other things that held their clothes together.
There was something about what the kids thought about adults and I think one line went like "Maybe one day we will become so stupid that we will like them".
another line that is often quoted and is important to many is the line "If I knew, I wouldn't have come"

There was also a girl who was sort of a heroin and collected the buttons and she was the one who had the happy ending. Maybe it was a buttons for love thing. There was also some part where an adult caused her to drop her jar of buttons.

But this might be just crazy thinking as who would ever think of giving buttons for love.

I can't help but feel that this first part has something to do with children. maybe the trying to crush oneself with ignorance is trying to understand what a child would mean by adults being stupid.
Everything being said to you is true; Imagine of what it is true.
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