The Energy of Slaves - Poems by Leonard Cohen

As I said, I became a fan of Cohen's via his music in the late 60's as I was learning to play folk music on the acoustic guitar. These books belonged to my wonderful sister, Sharon, who helped me discover him and who is now cleaning excess items from her house so I claimed them.

This edition was published in 1972 although, of course, the poems stem from a period of a number of years, but this still shows growth from The Spice Box of Earth in my mind, although those were already strong works. Here, his lines are shorter and to the point, but still with terrific imagery and his clever sense of humor, as he tells tales of relationships won and lost, lust, love, boredom and violence. He is self-referential at times, with snippets of songs, older poems, mentions of lovers, such as the famous Marianne, and more. There is a certain power to her form, and the words will stick with you, whether or not you can say what he meant to say.

My love of poetry is very particular, but I thoroughly enjoyed this and look forward to finding more of his books, as I have not read many. Recommended for those who dig this kind of thing.