Steve Smith
Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:39 pm
Good day to everybody!
I'd like to ask anyone who could help me for any information about Steve Smith, a poet mentioned in a dedication of Leonard Cohen's "Beautiful Losers".
The story is: Leonard's novel has once made a great impact on my literary tastes and I've been (and still am) an avid reader of this great book (by the way, Russian translation is absolutely brilliant). I became interested in many details related to it and something forced me to start looking for some information about this poet, his life (as it was so short) and books.
By a great luck I've managed to find a very old, used copy of "God's Kaleidoscope" at alibris.com and a month later a package from another side of the world has happily arrived in my mailbox.
The book is very small (40 p. approximately) and filled with some drawings as well. I've read it in a short time, it one seat. In my opinion, it's an impressive reading. The poems are charming in their strenghtness and simplicity (even "childishness" and over-simplicity at times) and, on the other hand, a deep symbolism and solidity. Childhood, youth, illness and religion are the main themes of these several short cycles of small poems.
Seems like Steve Smith is one of those forgotten young poets who is worth remembering. However, I was unable to find any information on him.
Does anybody have to say anything about Steve's life and poetry? What is known (in particular) about his relations with Cohen and his influence on the novel?
Greetings from Russia to all of you.
I'd like to ask anyone who could help me for any information about Steve Smith, a poet mentioned in a dedication of Leonard Cohen's "Beautiful Losers".
The story is: Leonard's novel has once made a great impact on my literary tastes and I've been (and still am) an avid reader of this great book (by the way, Russian translation is absolutely brilliant). I became interested in many details related to it and something forced me to start looking for some information about this poet, his life (as it was so short) and books.
By a great luck I've managed to find a very old, used copy of "God's Kaleidoscope" at alibris.com and a month later a package from another side of the world has happily arrived in my mailbox.
The book is very small (40 p. approximately) and filled with some drawings as well. I've read it in a short time, it one seat. In my opinion, it's an impressive reading. The poems are charming in their strenghtness and simplicity (even "childishness" and over-simplicity at times) and, on the other hand, a deep symbolism and solidity. Childhood, youth, illness and religion are the main themes of these several short cycles of small poems.
Seems like Steve Smith is one of those forgotten young poets who is worth remembering. However, I was unable to find any information on him.
Does anybody have to say anything about Steve's life and poetry? What is known (in particular) about his relations with Cohen and his influence on the novel?
Greetings from Russia to all of you.