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A review by ryanberger
The Flame: Poems Notebooks Lyrics Drawings by Leonard Cohen
emotional
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
Caveat: I am not a Leonard Cohen fan. It's not that I dislike him at all, it's simply that he hasn't clicked for me. And yet so many of my favorite artists have called him one of the greatest songwriters of all time and went out of their way to talk about what a huge influence he was on them. I wanted to pick this up and see if a deeper appreciation can form.
Not especially. There were a handful of poems that I thought were really interesting given his long life and unique perspective. I also felt there were a few that seemed.... amateurish? It's true I need to read more poetry and listen to more Cohen, but there were a lot of poems I found to be kind of eye rolling. The most egregious rhyming stretch I've ever seen is located in this book.
The lyrics don't do much for me at all, unfortunately. Maybe it's because in all the ways and forms that I write, I will never be a songwriter and so my ears and eyes aren't tuned to the things that make lyrics bloom when all you have are words on the page without rhythm, delivery, context, etc.
Not especially. There were a handful of poems that I thought were really interesting given his long life and unique perspective. I also felt there were a few that seemed.... amateurish? It's true I need to read more poetry and listen to more Cohen, but there were a lot of poems I found to be kind of eye rolling. The most egregious rhyming stretch I've ever seen is located in this book.
The lyrics don't do much for me at all, unfortunately. Maybe it's because in all the ways and forms that I write, I will never be a songwriter and so my ears and eyes aren't tuned to the things that make lyrics bloom when all you have are words on the page without rhythm, delivery, context, etc.