Before Leonard Cohen left Hydra for the United States in 1967 to pursue music, he had published 3 books between 1963 and 1966. Two were novels and Cohen’s Flowers for Hitler was a collection of poetry; a form of writing he would later integrate into his original songs.
Only days after performing in the United States for the first time in 15 years at New York City’s Beacon Theater, he has published a new poem in The New Yorker. The poem, entitled “A Street,” is full of war imagery and alcohol references. It reads very much like lyrics to one of his songs, complete with a chorus-like refrain:
So let’s drink to when it’s over
And let’s drink to when we meet
I’ll be standing on this corner
Where there used to be a street
To read Leonard Cohen’s new poem “A Street,” click here.