This isn't poetry but it's beautiful. I've been on a Denis Johnson kick.
'The worst of my disequilibrium had passed in a couple of years. I wouldn't bore even a highly paid psychiatrist with the details of my love life, my sex life, during this period, except to say that it was quite a lot less than nothing- that is, I couldn't bear to have so much as a single sexual thought, let a single desire so much as flicker in my mind, during the two years after I was widowed. Not only because my grief made me loyal to my wife, but also because I was grieving for someone who was dead, and death is such a physical thing. I didn't want physical things. I didn't even like facts about things, and in a secret way I came to hate the truth itself.
This extra dimension of loneliness, this revulsion for the world and even, at first, for the stuff of which it was composed, seemed unique at the time. But I think I see now that it was completely typical, and that what revolted me above all was the understanding that everything passes away.'
xo
Abby
from The Name of the World by Denis Johnson
This section is for any other poetry-related topics
Return to “Other Writers and Writing”
Jump to
- News
- General
- ↳ THE FLAME - news and information
- ↳ Montreal Memorial Week, November 2017
- ↳ Leonard Cohen 80 years on September 21, 2014
- ↳ Comments & Questions
- ↳ Tribute concerts, Cover versions & Soundtracks
- ↳ Collectors' and Traders' Corner
- ↳ Leonard Cohen 75 years (September 21, 2009)
- The Music Place
- ↳ Thanks for the Dance
- ↳ You Want It Darker
- ↳ 2015 Release: Can't Forget
- ↳ 2014 releases: Popular Problems & Live in Dublin
- ↳ OLD IDEAS
- ↳ Leonard Cohen's music
- ↳ Live performances & YouTube clips
- ↳ New Songs & Rarities
- ↳ Live in London, Dear Heather, The Essential Leonard Cohen, Ten New Songs
- ↳ Blue Alert
- ↳ Related Artists
- ↳ Adam Cohen
- ↳ Other music
- The Poetry Place
- ↳ Book of Longing
- ↳ Leonard Cohen's poetry and novels
- ↳ Writing, Music and Art by the Forum members
- ↳ Other Writers and Writing
- World Tours 2008-2010 & 2012-2013
- ↳ TOUR 2013 IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
- ↳ THE SUMMER 2013 TOUR IN EUROPE
- ↳ THE SPRING 2013 TOUR IN NORTH AMERICA
- ↳ USA & CANADA 2012 / CONCERT REPORTS & MEET-UPS
- ↳ Old Ideas World Tour 2012 / Europe
- ↳ EUROPE 2012 / CONCERT REPORTS & MEET-UPS
- ↳ Old Ideas World Tour 2012 / USA and Canada
- ↳ The World Tour 2010
- ↳ The World Tour 2010 Meetups
- ↳ The Fall 2009 Tour in USA
- ↳ The Summer Tour in Europe 2009
- ↳ The North American Tour 2009
- ↳ The Pacific Tour 2009
- ↳ The Fall Tour in Europe 2008
- ↳ The Summer Tour 2008
- The Leonard Cohen Events
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Copenhagen in 2024
- ↳ Hydra Meetups 2023, 2019, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, 2005 & The Event in 2002
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Ghent 2022
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event 2020 in Ghent, Belgium - RESCHEDULED TO 2022
- ↳ Walking Weekends (2009 - 2023)
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Budapest 2018
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Amsterdam 2016
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Dublin 2014
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Madison 2012
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Krakow 2010
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Edmonton 2008
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in Berlin 2006
- ↳ The Leonard Cohen Event in New York 2004
- ↳ Other gatherings
- ↳ Traveling Pack
- Everything Else