The Energy of Slaves by Leonard Cohen

Reading Level: Adult Poetry
Submitted by Gerti

This is the second book of Leonard Cohen's poetry that I have read, the first book being written when he was younger, and the change is obvious!  "The Energy of Slaves" is a more mature work, although some of this themes remain constant-women/romance, religion, and politics.

Just like "The Spice-Box of Earth," the young Canadian's first volume of poetry, "The Energy of Slaves," has a confessional tone which at times is uncomfortable to read.  But the quality of the poems is better, and I liked more of them as a result.

I'm now on this 3rd book of poetry that I checked out of the library, and it is a compilation of his best work, so I'll be curious to see if those I selected as my favorites were also selected by poet and his editor for inclusion in that volume.  It includes the poem "Suzanne," which Cohen turned into a lyric which has acquired quite a bit of fame, and is in fact one of the songs/lyrics of his for which he is known. 

A slim 127 pages, but there are about 8 poems in this book that I really liked.  This book is worthier of your time than "The Spice-Box of Earth," and it's easy to read a few poems whenever there are free moments in the day.  So yes, if you like poetry and especially confessional poetry with a strong feel of the 70s, this might be the volume to keep on the nightstand, in the car (or in the bathroom!) "The Energy of the Slaves," is still not a work of genius for me, but once again, there are lines, verses and topics that show the promise of things to come.