Inspirations: Leonard Cohen

Beneath My Hands

Beneath my hands
your small breasts
are the upturned bellies
of breathing fallen sparrows.

Wherever you move
I hear the sounds of closing wings
of falling wings.

I am speechless
because you have fallen beside me
because your eyelashes
are the spines of tiny fragile animals.

I dread the time
when your mouth
begins to call me hunter.

When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want to summon
the eyes and hidden mouths
of stone and light and water
to testify against you.

I want them
to surrender before you
the trembling rhyme of your face
from their deep caskets.

When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want my body and my hands
to be pools
for your looking and laughing.

-from The Spice-Box of Earth


I suppose when most people think of Leonard Cohen the first thing that comes to mind is his music, and with all time classic songs like "Hallelujah" in his repertoire, it's no surprise. Recently though, I encountered a collection of selected poems and songs dating back to his first book of poetry called "Let us Compare Mythologies," which was published in 1956 when Cohen was twenty two. There are several things that have impressed me about this collection so far, but for the sake of brevity, I'll simply offer the above poem for your rumination.