Clemency and Leonard Cohen

Clemency and Leonard Cohen

a trench coat beret poetic grace
Leonard never had to beg
clipped out a picture in Rolling Stone '91
left fist closed and writing hand hidden
they come to him shedding carefully picked
fashion a 15 year old or great grandmother
a hundred different positions to lie
them down with words as blankets

Leonard never had to beg they
came to him on their knees
in Greece, California, Montreal
a concert hall in Vienna
now he's on my wall

i placed his picture in my geology lab book
rocks formations glaciers Leonard Cohen
graphs x axis y axis
I stripped him and taped him
rearranged him

Leonard never had to beg
he was in my city in the 60s
on Jasper Avenue, downtown Edmonton
where they come to beg for their wine
a warm room in the ache of winter

Leonard never had to beg
for me to love him
in the university library
call numbers dissolving into my crying
hand no matter they're memory
i pillage his section grasping
spines hard covered prophecy

and Leonard never had to beg
for mercy as I take him
down, down, down
from his resting place.

Natalie Fuhr