LEONARD COHEN:
ONE OF THOSE GUYS

by Robert Humphrey
USA 2009

Everywhere

Vow that you are everywhere
On mountains and islands
Shipwrecked in cities
Inventing drinks in deserts
Snowbound on seaways
The only tourist Iin Havana
Lost on the road to Larissa
Inhabiting white rooms
Generous in Morocco
Weeping in Jerusalem
Poxed in Athens
Taking Manhattan to Berlin
Coiled in Aegean nights
Approaching the border prisons
Returning to Babylon
Moonlit in Edmonton
A lord in London
Riding a best of Wight
In graffiti in South L.A.
On zendo doors
On cabin walls
Under a cantor’s gaze
Our most important spy
Back on Boogie Street
Taking tea in Bombay
At the break of day
Between the nameless and the name
In your daughter’s heart
By the rivers dark
Pallbearer and chauffeur
In Danish paintings
In the Montreal School
On the shelves of every land
In the gossip of countless women
On the web’s sleepless screen
Public property at last.
Now that you are everywhere
You can disappear again
So when they look for you
Or when they turn their backs
I’ll still find you in my longing
And know you are everywhere.


The poems in this new book are Humphrey's tribute to Leonard Cohen’s history as a poet, novelist, songwriter and Zen Buddhist. Robert Humphrey traveled to Hydra and Mount Baldy in his quest to make sense of the worldwide fascination with Cohen’s words and powerful imagery. The poems cover Leonard’s early days in Montreal and follow him through the snowy fields of Mount Baldy.

Cover photo and another photo of Leonard Cohen by Soheyl Dahi
Published by Sore Dove Press, San Francisco, CA
Sore Dove Chapbook Series No. 18

The chapbook was printed in an edition limited to 131 copies. 100 copies were signed and numbered by the poet. 26 copies were lettered each containing an original acrylic painting by Soheyl Dahi. 5 special copies were handbound in boards, each containing two original paintings by Dahi and Humphrey.