‘….fakes hanging around the sacred precinct
trying to look like the real thing*
needless to say I’m one of the fakes’
(from Leonard Cohen’s poem ‘Thousands’)
the other day
I sat rapt
in a morning café
reading from Leonard’s
‘Book of Longing’
some made me laugh
despite the naysayers
he can be very funny
and so direct
others are
his usual enigmas
I love them all
no need to grapple
with meaning
they beguile
come what may
his words work
like a charm ‘
be they songs
be they poems
which could mean
all things to all women
and to all men
they do most likely
their aftertaste is
what matters really
they’re not mysteries
waiting to be solved
as crossword puzzles
they invite us
into an honest world
of love lust longing
spiritual belief
and his always humble
rabbinical confirmation
shalom
Jeff Cloves
Picture Rupert Loydell
(*poets of course)
.