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This week I've been re-reading
Leonard Cohen's poetry.
Re-listening to interviews.
In one, he says his first books
were celebrated by reviewers,
given awards, people came to his readings,
so he had the youthful audacity to think
he could make a living out of writing.
Meagre sales soon dispelled that idea,
so he ran down to Nashville
to try to make it writing country songs -
bourgeois Jewish boy from Montreal.
What is it with messianic poets
who think they can defy the laws of nature,
exist in this world as if gravity
were just a state of mind?
Then I hear about Rupi Kaur.
Canadian poet like Cohen.
Women seem to adore her too. Otherwise,
she's not much like him.
For one thing, she's sold way more poetry books
by the age of 30 than he ever did
in his entire life. Millions and millions I hear.
They're NYTimes bestsellers.
She makes good money on her poetry.
Amassed a huge following through Instagram.
Her TV Special was on Amazon Prime Video.
It's like she's cracked some Peter Pan code
that taught her how to fly,
the alchemy of turning sadness into cash -
it's a dream, she's said.
In his 70s, after his manager
stole all his money while he was living
the monastic life of a Buddhist,
Leonard was asked about the way he suffers.
He said, with people dying and starving
all over the world every day, it's hard
to take one's own traumas too seriously.
I think that was his first mistake.
Everyone takes every smidgen of their suffering
so seriously nowadays. His second,
was an inability to think cheerful thoughts.
His short pithy rhymers I think
could've worked well on Instagram.
He might have been the Rupi Kaur
of his generation.
4 comments:
Agreed, she is no Leonard Cohen, but Rupi Kaur is indeed a poet in her own right with her own story and her own sufferings. All the power to her, I say, if she can sell millions of copies of her books. She probably has done more for poetry awareness than any other poet in the last twenty years, with the possible exception of Amanda Gorman. I hope you're not (consciously or unconsciously) "dissing" her in your poem?
Your love of Leonard (like your love of Montreal) shines through in this poem! And in your previously posted poem as well.
It's interesting to speculate on whether or not Mr. Cohen could have made it as a social media influencer! I think he was lucky to live in the time period that he did. He was a man for his times. Ahead of his time in some ways. His portrayal of women, for example. Songs like "Suzanne" and "Sisters of Mercy" show a reverence for women way beyond superficial beauty. On the other hand, he had a reputation, I think, for being a "womanizer," and his lifestyle and relationships might have provided easy fodder for the Me-too-ers. Maybe it's just as well that he lived when he lived and scraped by without being called out. He and all the others -- Mick Jagger, Keith Richard, Bob Dylan, Steven Tyler, Rod Stewart, etc. -- they all scraped by!
Anyone who can sell millions of copies of a book of poetry has my respect. It’s an impressive trick. But yeah, I’m sort of dissing her. Or rather dissing the reading public. Her poetry is decidedly low brow. Simple and cliched to the point of Hallmark card material with a sprinkle of self-help. It also reflects the way victimhood is elevated in our culture, which I find distasteful. I guess kudos to her for reading the room and producing work that appeals to her audience and figuring out how to sell it to them. It’s more marketing than art in my opinion. But of course every artist also wants to have their work appreciated and optimally earn a living from it. The real trick is somehow finding that balance between making art that has a transcendent, lasting quality and making art that pays the bills. Great art has a great readership the old saying goes. The art/ poetry that seems to have broad appeal these days reflects the quality of its audience.
On the same hand, as opposed to the other hand, it’s really an indictment of the culture we live in that quality poetry is not celebrated widely. I hold the poets, mostly academics, responsible for being satisfied with writing work that appeals to a narrow audience of specialists. I hold teachers responsible for teaching the love of poetry out of their students. I hold the education system responsible for relegating the arts to the very bottom of the education hierarchy. So there’s plenty of blame to go around. We live in a fast food consumer culture. Poetry (all art) that’s superficially tasty, cheaply made, and momentarily satisfying as opposed to genuinely nutritious fits right in.
Here, here! We are on the same page on all of the above!
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