Tortured vines make the best wine

[mat james]

Tortured vines make the best wine

“If I treated animals or people
like I treated my vines
They would have locked me up by now”,
he said, on the news flash.

And I got to thinkin’
of the inquisition and Cruz
the holocaust and Viktor Frankl
of the dark night of Plotinus
the Christian persecutions
of the sufferings of Buddha
the broken halleluiah of Leonard’s David
and Leonard

and I thought maybe that winemaker is onto something ?

His vines grow
near windy rocks
on a slip of flat, volcanic red soil
where only the toughest
survive
the “ugly” surrounds
with just enough necessities
Steve was an unknown
a bit of a laugh
a small fry in a huge game
an apostate
an independent
a believer,
a do-er

a tiller of treasured soil

…and again I got to thinking
of Leonard,
and how tortured vines
make the best wine

a cold and a very broken, halleluiah

Matj


Steve just won "World's best Shiraz" in France, this week.
"Rockbank is flat as a tabletop, extremely windy — "We manufacture the wine here," quips Ramunno, as if defying the elements — and less green and undulating than visitors expect. But it's obviously good for shiraz.
… Witchmount winemaker Steve Goodwin ended up rejecting 36% of the shiraz. Only the best grapes were kept for that year's vintage"
Brisbane Times

[Cate]

Hi Mat - this might be true - certainly a great many artists seem tortured. I'm not sure if Leonard would fit the tortured category - he speaks of love so beautifully. I think if you open yourself willingly to great joy you also willingly open yourself to great pain. I don't know if that's the same as being tortured - I just think it's drinking deeply.

By the way my favourite wine is Australian - Penfolds Koonaga Hill Shiraz/Cabernet - It's not ranked very high, but I like it and it fits my budget nicely.

[mat james]

hi Cate,
you say,

I'm not sure if Leonard would fit the tortured category

I have read the transcripts of a few of his interviews and there is plenty of evidence of mental torture,anguish,searching, in them.
However, look (google) for yourself and see what you discover.
Interwoven in his lyrics also is further evidence of metaphorical torture. "Halleluiah" is full of it, in my opinion.
{Of course it depends on how one interprets (plays with) the word "torture".}
There is pain, loss, suffering, confusion, (in his lyrics) that lead to moments of deep understanding; which move his soul/spirit into love and "halleluiah!"
This "love" he sings about is not just the love two people may experience for each other.
The "love" I see being sung about in his songs is of that relationship/love between an individuals (Leonard) soul (feminine) and the the object of desire, God (masculine).
Sometimes Leonard seems to confuse the issue even further by singing about the love between his ego (masculine) and his soul (feminine).
For example, the album "Ten New Songs" is full of these morphing (carnal/soulful/spiritual/divine) "love affairs".

Rightly or wrongly; that's how I read much of his work, anyway.

Regards, Matj

[Cate]

This "love" he sings about is not just the love two people may experience for each other.
The "love" I see being sung about in his songs is of that relationship/love between an individuals (Leonard) soul (feminine) and the the object of desire, God (masculine).
Sometimes Leonard seems to confuse the issue even further by singing about the love between his ego (masculine) and his soul (feminine).

Hi Mat - I often see his work the same way.
I would agree that he seems like a man who has suffered great anguish. As you said it depends on how you interpret the word torture. I think of it as being very extreme, of course I can't see in Mr. Cohen's head, but from the outside I'd agree with anguished but not tortured.
This is of course only my opinion.
Your poem seems right to me, there are some that thrive in very harsh conditions and Leonard seems to be one of them.


Cate