I am a huge Leonard Cohen fan; I like his music, his poetry and anything else he decides to do. His talent is endless and, in my opinion, ageless. I heard about a book launch party at a book store in Calgary, Alberta, for a book which is a tribute to Cohen on his 75th birthday which takes place this month. It is a poetry anthology of 75 poems, from both published and unpublished writers, honoring the legendary poet. I was very excited to get the book itself, and at the book launch, I discovered how the book came about, which is an interesting story in and of itself.

Jack Locke, a poet from Montreal, had the idea to create a poet-in-residence position in Leonard Cohen’s name at the high school where he graduated. He had to raise money to do this, so he decided to publish original poems that were inspired by Cohen’s work. He sent out some public announcements, and the poems and tributes came pouring in. There are even works by famous writers like Margaret Atwood. Locke received 200 submissions from all over the world, and he managed to narrow it down to 75. After I got my copy of the book signed by Locke, I took my anthology home and began to read the poems, savoring them.

I had expected, judging from the information at the book launch, that the poems would be written in the same style as Cohen’s work. What I found was that the poems in the book are of many different styles, and most bear no resemblance to Cohen’s poetry at all. Locke had given no criteria for the submissions, as far as style or genre, simply that they had to have been inspired by Cohen. There are haiku poems, as well as Shakespearean style poems, and some that have no organized form or rhythm. I greatly enjoyed reading this book and some of the unknown and new poets have the best work, in my opinion.

Anyone who is a fan of Leonard Cohen, as well as anyone that enjoys reading or writing poetry, will enjoy ‘Leonard Cohen: You’re Our Man.’

Rating: 10