P P o o e e t t i i c c T T h h o o u u g g h h t t
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<p>This section of the exhibition explores how poetry provides alternative ways to think about the world, to understand the human condition and the creative process itself. For Leonard Cohen, poetic thought is deeply linked with melancholy and his observations on beauty and personal suffering. For him, poetry transmits a kind of wisdom and is suffused with a certain amount of mystery; it comes from a place that can be neither controlled nor conquered. Cohen often spoke about the challenges of writing: “The process is the opposite of abundance, the opposite of luxury. The operation is like rag-picking. To finally come up with something you can inhabit that changes your mind about yourself, it changes your heart and creates a man around this song, around this poem. That’s what it is, that’s what the great glory is.” —In Armelle Brusq, <em>Leonard Cohen à Mont-Baldy</em>, 1996.</p>
<p>Cohen would often say that his work came down to “blackening pages,” of isolating himself to illuminate through words the inner landscape in each of us, and in this way, transcend his solitude through the creative power of poetry. The works selected under this theme express the challenge of transforming an idea into words or form. They also offer moments of contemplation and put forth a range of associations and interpretations. Finally, they make us see beyond appearances simply by portraying reality in other ways.</p>
