Leonard Cohen — Book of Mercy “I,8”

Leonard Cohen — Book of Mercy “I,8”

Have you ever watched, in awe, as a skilled gymnast or skater lifts off and completes a dizzying number of revolutions in less than a second before landing safely back down? That’s how you may feel upon reading the great Leonard Cohen’s urgent, dreamlike poem “I, 8” from Book of Mercy. In his telling of a man’s fall “from his high place” into “disgrace”, Cohen sends us on a short, 206-word journey that seamlessly weaves together narration, fiction, meditation, devotion, and prayer.

We invite you to subscribe to Pádraig’s weekly Poetry Unbound Substack, read the Poetry Unbound books and his newest work, Kitchen Hymns, or listen to all our Poetry Unbound episodes.

Leonard Cohen had an artistic career that began in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. He published two novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers, and 10 books of poetry, most recently Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs and Book of Longing. During a recording career that spanned almost 50 years, he released 14 studio albums, the last of which, You Want It Darker, was released in 2016. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and was awarded the Glenn Gould Prize in 2011. He died on November 7, 2016.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(218)

Kinsale Drake — Put on that KTNN

Kinsale Drake — Put on that KTNN

In Kinsale Drake’s poem “Put on that KTNN,” she writes about driving to a hometown as a familiar station crackles to life on the car radio. From this corner of America, she creates her own country mus...

2 Joulu 202414min

Poetry Unbound — Season 9 Trailer

Poetry Unbound — Season 9 Trailer

Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, December 2. Featured poets in this season include Robert Hayden, Kinsale Drake, Danielle Chapman, Diannely Antigua, and many more. New episo...

25 Marras 20241min

Closing: Poems as Teachers (ft. Kai Cheng Thom) | Ep 7

Closing: Poems as Teachers (ft. Kai Cheng Thom) | Ep 7

In this concluding episode of "Poems as Teachers," our special miniseries on conflict and the human condition, host Pádraig Ó Tuama says the poems discussed in this offering are a different kind of te...

17 Touko 202412min

Yehuda Amichai — Poems as Teachers | Ep 6

Yehuda Amichai — Poems as Teachers | Ep 6

Being right may feel good, but what human price do we pay for this feeling of rightness? Yehuda Amichai’s poem “The Place Where We Are Right,” translated by Stephen Mitchell, asks us to answer this qu...

17 Touko 202414min

Jericho Brown — Poems as Teachers | Ep 5

Jericho Brown — Poems as Teachers | Ep 5

In “Hebrews 13” by Jericho Brown, a narrator says: “my lover and my brother both knocked at my door.” The heat is turned on, scalding coffee is offered and hastily swallowed, and silence is the soundt...

16 Touko 202413min

Mosab Abu Toha — Poems as Teachers | Ep 4

Mosab Abu Toha — Poems as Teachers | Ep 4

In Mosab Abu Toha’s “Ibrahim Abu Lughod and brother in Yaffa,” two barefoot siblings on a beach sketch out a map of their former home in the sand and argue about what went where. Their longing for ret...

15 Touko 202416min

Constantine P. Cavafy — Poems as Teachers | Ep 3

Constantine P. Cavafy — Poems as Teachers | Ep 3

We ask questions to find out the facts, but what if you can’t trust the answers, the questions, or the person who's asking the questions? In Constantine P. Cavafy’s “Waiting for the Barbarians,” trans...

14 Touko 202417min

Joy Harjo — Poems as Teachers | Ep 2

Joy Harjo — Poems as Teachers | Ep 2

As appealing as it may sound, is it really possible to live in a world completely free of conflict? No. And since differences and disagreements are inevitable and natural, Joy Harjo gives ground rules...

13 Touko 202417min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

sita
olipa-kerran-otsikko
kaksi-aitia
ihme-ja-kumma
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
i-dont-like-mondays
uutiscast
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
loukussa
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
meidan-pitais-puhua
naakkavalta
rss-nikotellen