Posts Tagged ‘Ken Chawkin’

John O’Donohue’s 4 short lines say it all for poets

January 27, 2020

These 4 short lines by John O’Donohue describe how he lived his creative life—amazed by each revelatory moment, turning them into poems.

Fluent

I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.

— John O’Donohue

Enjoy 3 more of his lovely poems: A Blessing of Solitude (Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom); The Inner History of a Day and For a New Beginning (To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings).

Mary Oliver lived her life that way: “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work,” and put it into a 3-line poem, Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it

William Stafford expressed the same notion in his talks and poems of being innocent, spontaneous, and responding creatively in the moment: A Course in Creative Writing, You and Art, and When I Met My Muse.

This poem my son wrote when he was in 6th grade epitomizes this idea: INSPIRATION, a poem by Nathanael Chawkin.

These poems I wrote on the process share in that same sentiment: Writing; Storytelling; and Sometimes Poetry Happens, which turned out to be a commentary on this revealed poem, ODE TO THE ARTIST: Sketching Lotus Pads at Round Prairie Park.

In our efforts to fluently express ourselves, writing, primarily, is a process of self-discovery. Burghild Nina Holzer says journal writing allows us to discover who we are and what we have to say.

Talking to paper is talking to the divine. Paper is infinitely patient. Each time you scratch on it, you trace part of yourself, and thus part of the world, and thus part of the grammar of the universe. It is a huge language, but each of us tracks his or her particular understanding of it.

WHO ARE YOU?, a poem in the film, Words and Pictures, invites us to write and discover who we are. There’s a fascinating story behind it.

In the words of Donald Hall, “Writing is the process of using language to discover meaning in experience and to communicate it.”

In this collection of Writers on Writing–What Writing Means To Writers, Hall also wrote:

A good writer uses words to discover, and to bring that discovery to other people. He rewrites so that his prose is a pleasure that carries knowledge with it. That pleasure-carrying knowledge comes from self-understanding, and creates understanding in the minds of other people.

Dan Fogelberg’s song, Longer, and my 3 love poems complete today’s Valentine’s Day Show

February 14, 2019

Sheila Moschen asked me to read 3 of my love poems for a Valentine Day’s Show on her KHOE radio program, Let Your Heart Sing. This 38-minute show (#56) aired on Monday and Tuesday this week at 1:00 and 7:00 pm, and will soon go into her archive. The last musical selection Sheila played was the beautiful love song, Longer, by Dan Fogelberg (at 33:05). The 3 short poems, about a special relationship I shared with my sweetheart Sally Peden, complete the show (at 36:34).

UPDATE: The show also replayed the following year on Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, February 12, 2020 with new links on OneDrive and YouTube.

CELEBRATING VALENTINE’S DAY WITH MUSIC AND POETRY

roses_bouquet_3491

COMMITTED
a two-haiku poem

When the tide rolls in
bows of boats bump each other
tethered to the dock

With our ups and downs
we remain tied together
solid as a rock

~

This Quiet Love

This is a quiet love
One of simplicity and easiness
No complications here
It’s too late in life for that sort of thing
Just time to be best friends

~

In Our Loving Eyes

Some people are stargazers
We were soul-gazers
Looking in each other’s eyes

Windows to the Soul
A Self-reflecting mirror
Drawing us nearer

Love … looking … at Love

two_roses

World Radio KHOE 90.5 FM is broadcast from the campus of Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, and streamed live online.

Sheila had invited me to read more of my poems on other shows. She asked me to read another love poem, The Enlightened Heart, which concluded show #72. She liked my tree poems and asked me to read a haiku, Be Spring, poem IX in 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen, followed by Willow Tree, a tanka from a tree’s perspective, on show #61. She asked me to read What do trees do? Something to think about, for show #70. And Friendship – another tree tanka for show #76. And I read Being in Nature: A Gift from a Tree for show #93

Some of my favorite love poems: i carry your heart with me by e.e. cummings | Emily Dickinson succinctly describes the eternal nature of Love in this short but powerful poem | Love after Love, by Derek Walcott, resonates deeply when you first acknowledge yourself.

Added February 18, 2024: This Sunday, Sheila Moschen’s Valentine’s Day show was being rebroadcast on KHOE. After she had signed off, station manager James Moore came on air to share the sad news of Sheila’s passing. Her daughter had contacted him to say that her mother had passed on January 15. James spoke about her considerable contribution to the radio station. Sheila provided a platform for the many fine local musicians and poets. On February 15, The Recorder posted the Sheila Moschen Obituary.

I was shocked to hear this news. I emailed James to relay my surprise and to thank him for his high praise of Sheila. He thanked me and said:

Sheila was a joy to work with and a real treasure for Heaven on Earth radio. That’s why I’ve chosen to continue broadcasting her rich content.

She told me recently that creating the LET YOUR HEART SING shows was one of her very favorite things in life, a highlight, in fact. Her commitment to uplifting hearts and minds, enriching life, and focus on local creatives with timely seasonal offerings was always a joy to broadcast.

She will be missed but grateful to be able to keep her beautiful work in rotation.

All the best,

James

He later sent me an mp3 of what he said on the show.

My haiku response to Billy Collins’ poem, Japan

January 3, 2019

I love the poetry of Billy Collins and have a few favorite poems, readings, and interviews posted on my blog. They’re so accessible and humorous.

His poem, Japan, is about a favorite haiku. He wrote each of the 12 stanzas to look like a 3-line haiku. The imagery in the last half of the poem unravels in the most mind-bending of ways as he interchanges perspectives! You can hear Billy Collins read Japan on YouTube.

I remember first reading it in his collection, Sailing Alone Around the Room, I bought over 15 years ago. Today, I found my two-haiku response written on a napkin among scraps of paper. It was also on the back of the receipt, bookmarking that poem! It inspired me to post both.

Today I pass the time reading
a favorite haiku,
saying the few words over and over.

It feels like eating
the same small, perfect grape
again and again.

I walk through the house reciting it
and leave its letters falling
through the air of every room.

I stand by the big silence of the piano and say it.
I say it in front of a painting of the sea.
I tap out its rhythm on an empty shelf.

I listen to myself saying it,
then I say it without listening,
then I hear it without saying it.

And when the dog looks up at me,
I kneel down on the floor
and whisper it into each of his long white ears.

It’s the one about the one-ton
temple bell
with the moth sleeping on its surface,

and every time I say it, I feel the excruciating
pressure of the moth
on the surface of the iron bell.

When I say it at the window,
the bell is the world
and I am the moth resting there.

When I say it into the mirror,
I am the heavy bell
and the moth is life with its papery wings.

And later, when I say it to you in the dark,
you are the bell,
and I am the tongue of the bell, ringing you,

and the moth has flown
from its line
and moves like a hinge in the air above our bed.

###

My humorous response to the moth and temple bell in the poem.

Haiku for Billy Collins’ poem, Japan, by Ken Chawkin

The weight of a moth
on a one-ton temple bell
excruciating

The sound of the bell
all hinges on the moth’s tongue
tapping the surface

###

On a more serious note, using the imagery of a tower bell, read a profound poem by Rainer Maria Rilke posted in my Response below, and in this PDF: Sonnets to Orpheus, Part Two, XXIX. Source: In Praise of Mortality: Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, translated and edited by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. On Being posted Joanna Macy reciting it: Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower.

Poem: For—Emily D— From—Kenny C—

January 2, 2019

Emily Dickinson’s amazing poem of the Brain being wider than the Sky inspired me to write a playful little poem in her style. I had posted it as a Comment, and now decided to reproduce it here:

For—Emily D—
From—Kenny C—

I am Part of what I See—
An Unlimited Reality
If the Whole is contained in Each Part—
Then I End up—where I Start

Poems~Pears for Breakfast Haiku

August 30, 2018

Today I saw Raffi tweeted a photo of two luscious pears. It reminded me of a haiku I had written and submitted eleven years ago to a Fairfield poetry competition. I decided to tweet the poem to him, which he liked. My Breakfast Haiku had won first place and I was invited to read it at Revelations Café. Since the photo and poem go so well together I decided to share them both with you in this blog post. Enjoy!

2 Pears 4 Breakfast Haiku

Photo of Salt Spring Island pears by Raffi Cavoukian used with permission

BREAKFAST HAIKU

Two poems, now ripe,
Waiting to be devoured,
Like pears on my plate.

Ken Chawkin
September 1, 2007
Fairfield, Iowa, USA

Freddy Fonseca had organized that Fairfield poetry competition, which culminated with the winning poets reading their poems at Revs Café. He also published my Five Haiku in This Enduring Gift – A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry, 2010. They were selected from 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen published in The Dryland Fish, An Anthology of Contemporary Iowa Poets, 2003, edited by Matthew MacLeod. Freddy also included the tanka, Cold Wet Night, and Poetry—The Art of the Voice, for This Enduring Gift. See other haiku and tanka posted on The Uncarved Blog.

Growth Haiku written by @kenchawkin and his son Nathanael Chawkin @integralsensei

November 26, 2017

The vegetation in Santa Barbara is varied and lush, with many exotic succulent plants, beautiful flowering bushes, and tall trees. I share my admiration for them as we drive through the city. Nathanael comments: “A tree can only grow as high as its roots go deep.” I write it down and start converting the idea into the first two lines of a haiku. I tell him we need a third line to complete it. After pondering the question for a moment, he recalls a universal phrase from the somatic arts (yoga, dance, martial arts) that his friend and coaching colleague LeeAnn Mallory had shared with him: “Root to rise.” I turn it into the last line to complete this short poem on a basic principle of growth.

Trees for Growth Haiku

Growth Haiku

Trees can only grow
as high as their roots go deep
Root yourself to rise

© Ken and Nathanael Chawkin
Santa Barbara, California
Thanksgiving Day
November 23, 2017

Maharishi always talked about developing 200% of life—100% inner spiritual development and 100% outer material accomplishments. We both say, “Water the root to enjoy the fruit.” Nathanael quotes the SCI Principle, “Outer depends on Inner.” I remember an early analogy: To erect a tall building you have to first dig a deep foundation. It’s similar to: First pull the arrow back on the bow to hit the target. Meditate then act. Established in Being, perform action.

Nathanael does more than just meditate to develop his inner life and establish it on a firmer foundation for living mindfully. Self-inquiry with The Work, various martial arts, and playing classical piano are ways he better understands and integrates himself as a person. He uses an integral approach to inform his work as a martial arts instructor (Integral Martial Arts) and a leadership coach and organizational development consultant (Palæstra).

NB: Nathanael also helped edit this post—a father and son collaboration.

Related: Growth, a spontaneous haiku/tanka @kenchawkin.

Leonard Cohen said there’s a crack in everything — how the light gets in. It came through him and lit up a broken humanity.

September 10, 2017

True to the end, Leonard Cohen‘s work charted the arc of his career, between life and death (Sept 21, 1934 – Nov 7, 2016). His search for redemption also influenced his fans. Cohen’s evolving understanding of life, beautifully expressed through his music, shone a light through the cracks of a broken humanity in a dark suffering world. He never claimed to have found all the answers, but seemed to have reached a kind of inner peace toward the end of his life, between himself and his God.

There is a repeated stanza in one of his songs, Anthem, that conveys the redeeming acceptance of light illuminating the darkness, compassion and love overcoming bigotry and hatred: “Ring the bells that still can ring/ Forget your perfect offering/ There is a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in.”

There may be a crack in everything, but how does the light get in—from without, or is it released from within? I’ve often thought about the profundity of those lines, and there have been many interpretations of what he may be implying. See mine below.* I think he sang about finding that divinity within and among our broken humanity. I wrote this tanka in honor of Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen’s music lit up a dark world
A tanka in honor of the poet by Ken Chawkin

Leonard Cohen said
There’s a crack in everything
How the light gets in

It came through him and lit up
a broken humanity

Of course there is a kind of irony here when he says, “Forget your perfect offerings,” since he labored for months, sometimes years, on getting the lyrics to his songs perfect. At some point, though, he must’ve given up, admitted his imperfection, and sent them out into the world. As Leonardo da Vinci once said: Art is never finished, only abandoned. Other famous artists and writers have said and done the same thing.

Artistic Genius—Two Creative Approaches

There is a story about Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. They happened to be in Paris at the same time and decided to meet at a certain café. During their conversation, Dylan, one of the first to sing Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” in his concerts, asked Cohen how long it took him to write it. Cohen was embarrassed to tell him the truth so he lied and said 2 years. Then Leonard asked Bob how long it took him to write “I And I“, and he replied 15 minutes. I think he said he wrote it in the back of a cab. Cohen later told this story to an interviewer and confessed that it took him more like 5 years to write that song. He never could complete it, even after 30 verses! Their styles reflect the different philosophical approaches of ‘first thought, best thought’ versus ‘revise, revise, revise’.

You can read the fascinating history of that song in Alan Light’s book, The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”. Malcolm Gladwell, in Season 1, Episode 7 of his Revisionist History podcast, discusses the history of “Hallelujah” with Alan Light. That segment starts at 21:35 and explains how this obscure song was first covered by only a few artists 15 years after Cohen had recorded it. The theme is about two kinds of artists—those who seem to create spontaneously, and others who labor for a very long time—the differences between Mozart and Beethoven, or Picasso and Cezanne. It first aired July 28, 2016. Later added on YouTube March 8, 2023 starting at 18:13. Also listen to BBC – SOUNDS – Soul Music – Series 20 – Hallelujah. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 14, 2015. (27:50)

During Leonard Cohen’s final public appearance at the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles on October 13, 2016, the day Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, he was asked what he thought about that and said: “To me, it’s like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain.”

I later read the Guardian article (6-29-2022) that this book served as the basis for the new documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. Directed and produced by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, the film takes both a micro and macro view of the song and Cohen, along with their respective and deeply intertwined places in culture. See ‘More than a song’: the enduring power of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. In a new documentary, fans and experts explore the legacy of a song originally shunned before becoming a timeless classic.

I saw this documentary at the FilmScene in Iowa City (Saturday, August 6, 2022). It was very well put together. The ending moved me to tears. Netflix later offered it: Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song

See Leonard Cohen’s website www.leonardcohen.com with links to more.

I tweeted (9-19-2107) Leonard Cohen’s biographer, Sylvie Simmons, asking her what he meant about the light getting in through the cracks, and she pointed me to Allan Showalter’s Cohencentric website and a post about it. He transferred it to his new website: “The light is the capacity to reconcile your experience, your sorrow, with every day that dawns” Leonard Cohen On The Light In Anthem.

Leonard later spent time in Bombay, India having conversations with Ramesh Balsekar, a teacher of Advaita Vedanta. It made a profound impression on him; his life-long depression had finally lifted. He also befriended an Indian gentleman, a fan, Ratnesh Mathur. You can read about their relationship and see photos in these posts that were transferred to Allan Showalter’s new website in his Leonard Cohen section: Leonard Cohen, India, & Me By Ratnesh Mathur; Leonard Cohen’s Spiritual Sojourn In India By Ratnesh Mathur; and Unpublished Photos Of Leonard Cohen (And Unidentified Companion) In India – With Ratnesh & Sangeeta Mathur. BBC reported: When the light got in for Leonard Cohen.

Murals mark 1-year anniversary of Leonard Cohen’s death

Montreal murals of Leonard Cohen

Montreal murals made by Gene Pendon (l) and Kevin Ledo (r)

November 7, 2017 is the 1-year anniversary of Leonard Cohen’s death. To personally commemorate this date, Sylvie Simmons tweeted a picture of herself standing in front of a large mural of Leonard Cohen painted by Kevin Ledo on the side of a 9-storey Montreal building close to where Leonard kept a home. It was the center piece for the fifth Mural International Public Art Festival in June. CBC Arts interviewed Kevin Ledo while he was working on it: Montreal Remembers Leonard Cohen With This Massive Mural. The Montreal Gazette’s Bill Brownstein had written an article about the making of it. He also mentions another mural, a tribute to Leonard Cohen made by artist Gene Pendon, which was painted on the side of a 20-storey downtown building, as part of Montreal’s 375th billion dollar birthday bash. The Globe and Mail described them in detail: Leonard Cohen and a tale of two Montreal murals. ET Canada reported on the official inauguration today, a year after Cohen’s passing. Josée Cloutier posted photos of both murals in one tweet, shown above. 

CBC broadcaster Eleanor Wachtel tweeted that the photograph of Leonard Cohen, which served as the basis for the large downtown mural, was taken by his daughter Lorca. Interesting that Leonard named his daughter after the famous Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, who had greatly influenced his work. See: Leonard Cohen on Federico García Lorca: “His books taught me that poetry can be pure and profound – and at the same time”

The M.A.C.’s Exhibition on Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything

The Guardian published Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything – Montreal’s tribute to its favourite son. The new exhibition was conceived as part of the city’s 375th anniversary celebrations – but has morphed into a thorough investigation of all things Cohen. On 9 November, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (AKA the Mac) will open the doors to Leonard Cohen : une brèche en toute chose/A Crack in Everything, a tribute to the artist, poet and musician, filled with multi-disciplinary works inspired by Cohen’s songs of life. This special exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art will conclude 9 April 2018.

The show takes its title from Cohen’s song Anthem, which contains the famous line “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” The song also inspired artist Kara Blake’s piece for the show, an immersive installation called The Offerings. “The song apparently took Cohen 10 years to craft and is just one example of his many artistic offerings that get inside the beautifully flawed nature of being human,” says Blake. “I wanted my piece to present visitors with a sampling of the creativity, wit and insight Cohen has gifted us with.”

Julia Holter contributed a cover of Cohen’s Take This Waltz, which will play on rotation in the Listening Room. “I enjoyed getting into the feeling of this passionate, seductive, demented waltz,” says Holter, who incorporated field recordings she made during a visit to the Greek island of Hydra, where Cohen had a home. “Being there was incredible,” she says.

For Holter, being invited to contribute to the show is the perfect way for her to give back to an artist she was introduced to as a child and who inspired her love of poetry. “What was special about Leonard Cohen’s work was its calm mystery. I think that can be an inspiration to the world right now,” she says. “The world needs this subtle beauty right now.”

And of course, who could ever forget Suzanne, Leonard’s mysterious poetic song that started it all, thanks to Judy Collins who wanted to cover it right after she heard Leonard sing it to her. It launched his career as a singer-songwriter. The song was inspired by Suzanne Verdal, the wife of his friend, sculptor Armand Vaillancourt.

Leonard Cohen biographer Sylvie Simmons

As part of the week’s celebrations, Eleanor Wachtel interviewed Sylvie Simmons on CBC Books Writers and Company, for broadcast on Sunday, November 12, 2017: Remembering Leonard Cohen: biographer Sylvie Simmons on Montreal’s beloved poet.

I enjoyed reading Sylvie’s wonderful biography, I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen. It will be published next year in a new French edition with an added afterword that will be included in a revised English edition by McClelland & Stewart.

The afterword is Cohen’s response to the question about what was the driving force that propelled his output. Simmons calls it Traveling Light, and quotes Cohen’s answer in this interview for The Senior Times: Biographer Sylvie Simmons pays tribute to Montreal’s favourite son.

Leonard Cohen was very active towards the end of his life. Due to his declining health he tried to bring as many projects to completion as possible. One of them was his last album, You Want It Darker, produced by his son Adam Cohen. A new poetry book, The Flame, will be released next year.

The Flame: Poems Notebooks Lyrics Drawings

On Oct 1, 2018 CBC q host Tom Power interviewed Adam Cohen on the legacy of his father Leonard Cohen. It’s been almost two years since the passing of Leonard Cohen, but we’re about to hear from the legendary singer and poet again. The Flame is a posthumous collection of his final writing that features never before published poems that Leonard Cohen wrote in the final few years of his life. The day before it’s release, Adam Cohen returns to q to talk about mourning his father’s life and and celebrating his legacy on the morning of the book’s release.

*My reply to Quora question about the crack and the light

Quora posted this question: What did Leonard Cohen mean by his lyrics: “There is a crack, a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in?” About a dozen people posted their suggestions. Here is my reply:

I agree with a number of interpretations posted here, quoting William Blake, the Kabbalah, and other esoteric sources, to explain what Leonard Cohen may be referring to in that line. They all make good sense to me. I also think that the light, of clarity, understanding, call it what you will, comes from within, not without. Metaphorically we may imagine light coming into a dark broken place from outside. But it can also light up the darkness from inside, if one knows how to turn on the switch. Another interpretation then, is no matter how broken, incomplete we are, with the proper approach, meditation technique, one can transcend, go beyond our limitations and just Be, experience that unbroken inner light of pure consciousness. With repeated exposures to one’s inner divine nature, the outer vessel, our body, can begin to heal, mend the broken cracks, and become whole. One way to experience this inner and outer development is with the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation.

Speaking of cracks and light, the Japanese art of kintugi turns damaged bowls into something even more beautiful. See my Japanese style poem, kintsugi tanka: japanese pottery inspires poetry.

This Canadian writer used the same metaphor, but from a different perspective: Richard Wagamese bravely entered the cracks in his life to reveal the hidden gold buried within.

New information on this topic later found and added

I recently discovered a quote by Rumi, which led me to believe this is where Leonard may have received the idea of the light entering the crack. Rumi wrote: “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

In the documentary, Andrea Bocelli – The Power of Silence, the interviewer quotes Rumi to Andrea. Here, ‘wound’ replaces ‘crack’, and he changes ‘you’ to ‘the heart’, but the idea is the same. It seems more intimate. “The wound is the place where the Light enters the heart.” They discuss the notion of the value of suffering and he asks him, “When did the light enter your heart? When did that light strike Andrea?” 

Andrea gives him an unexpected, beautiful, religious answer. “So the vision of Rumi the philosopher that you quoted is very interesting and I agree with what he says. In my case I didn’t think it was a wound, not such a painful wound that opened up and allowed the light to enter. No, I think the light entered my heart thanks to the grace of God.”  

He asks him, “Are you happy?” and Bocelli replies, “I am happy, yes, but more importantly, I am serene. To me happiness is a transitory condition and it can sometimes be a bit dangerous; whereas being serene is a state of mind that can be consolidated and it can stay with us forever.”  

Speaking of the Light entering us, see Marie Howe’s poem, Annunciation.

Additional interviews, documentaries, a new film, and album

Leonard Cohen SONGS FROM THE LIFE OF LEONARD COHEN, a 1988 documentary filmed in London, Paris, Hydra, Athens and New York.

“LEONARD” – Adrienne Clarkson – Leonard Cohen Documentary, 1989. Leonard Cohen tells Adrienne Clarkson about his original idea of making a living: “I don’t want to work for pay, but I want to be paid for my work.

In 1991 media mogul Moses Znaimer inducted Leonard Cohen into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at The JUNO Awards in Vancouver. Leonard gave a brilliant and humorous acceptance speech.

In 2006, Adrienne Clarkson narrated a retrospective of Leonard Cohen’s work and movingly inducted him into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, Cohen said: “If I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.” He humbly went on to say “that we shuffle behind our songs into the Hall of Fame, shuffle awkwardly, not quite believing that we wrote them, but happy that you do,” which elicited laughter and massive applause.

k.d. lang agreed to pay tribute to the legendary singer-songwriter with a rendition of his beloved song, “Hallelujah.” She had never performed the song for Cohen and “was excruciatingly nervous” knowing he would be in the audience. She received a standing ovation, and as the credits began to roll, she ran down the stage steps towards Leonard to offer him her reverence and appreciation. He rose to meet her and they warmly, respectfully embraced.

During her world tour in 2008, she gave a beautiful performance of the song backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra in a concert filmed at St. Luke’s Church in London. After hearing it Cohen’s partner, singer Anjani Thomas, looked at Cohen and said, “Well, I think we can lay that song to rest now! It’s really been done to its ultimate blissful state of perfection.” He agreed. Lang later sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Opening Ceremony. It was spectacular!

Interview with Leonard Cohen and Anjani Thomas | SVT/NRK/Skavlan, 2007. Asked if we are able to make a change for the better, Leonard discusses where catastrophes start and where we need to change: “The real weapons of mass destruction are the hardened hearts of humanity.

Leonard Cohen on Q TV (CBC exclusive). To celebrate Q’s 2nd anniversary — poet, novelist, songwriter, legend…a special exclusive feature interview with Leonard Cohen… recorded at his home in Montreal. Posted Apr 15, 2009.

How I Got My Song, Leonard Cohen’s speech at the Oct 21, 2011 Prince of Asturias Awards, posted by Allan Showalter. Cohen humbly and with great appreciation, tells the story of his cultural indebtedness to Spain.

LEONARD COHEN : His Last Interview (COMPLETE), September 2016, ​by David Remnick from The New Yorker.​

The Globe and Mail’s Robert Everett-Green also wrote about Leonard Cohen’s Montreal: refuge and escape. Published October 14, 2016. Updated April 10, 2018.

The poem, Days of Kindness, read by Leonard Cohen, concludes the 2019 film, Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, an in-depth look at the relationship between the late musician Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian muse Marianne Ihlen.

November 22, 2019 brings the release of the first posthumous Leonard Cohen album, Thanks For the Dance. For the nine-track LP, Cohen’s son, Adam, took leftover sketches and poems from his father’s 2016 LP, You Want it Darker, and fleshed them out with the assistance of Beck, Damien Rice, The National’s Bryce Dessner, and others. Following last month’s teaser track, “The Goal”, “Happens to the Heart” has now been released as the album’s first official single.

November 30, 2016 Rolling Stone published a retrospective of his life: Leonard Cohen: Remembering the Life and Legacy of the Poet of Brokenness. June 2020 Pocket republished it with permission.

February 24, 2022, The Guardian published Leonard Cohen: previously unpublished novel to be released in autumn. Written in 1956, A Ballet of Lepers will be published alongside other short fiction and a radio play from Cohen’s early career.

June 29, 2022, The Guardian published ‘More than a song’: the enduring power of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. In a new documentary, fans and experts explore the legacy of a song originally shunned before becoming a timeless classic.

Speaking of The Coming of Wisdom in Time, as William Butler Yeats put it, Leonard Cohen came to a similar realization when he said: “The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.” 

A list of recorded interviews can be found on this Google search.

I later found this video posted on YouTube by AirGigs on Jan 18, 2022: 10 Pearls Of Wisdom From Leonard Cohen. In this episode we look at his thoughts on success, writing, talent and much more.

Jan 18, 2021, Award-winning writer Michael Posner speaks with Banyen Books & Sound about his new biography: Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories.

Apr 9, 2024, Contra Costa JCC presented, Leonard Cohen: Untold Stories. Award-winning writer, playwright, journalist, and author of seven books, Michael Posner, joined the Under One Tent audience online on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. He introduced the third volume of his book, “Leonard Cohen: Untold Stories,” a must-read for fans of Leonard Cohen.

potted purple petunias poem @kenchawkin pays homage to @W_C_Williams’s red wheelbarrow

August 2, 2017

Norman and I get into my car parked across the street from Thai Deli where we just had lunch. It’s hot so we wait for the AC to kick in and cool down. He points out the beautiful petunias on the sidewalk in front of us. They’re purple, planted in pots, and placed on both sides of a doorway. Playing with the ‘p’ sound, I come up with a line that has seven syllables in it. I’m reminded of The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams and think of a similar opening. Noticing the backdrop, I finish the last line of the haiku. Coincidentally, I later discover it has the same word ‘white’ in it. I return the next day to take this photo to go with it.

potted purple petunias

Potted Purple Petunias Poem
Haiku in Homage to William Carlos Williams

there’s something about
potted purple petunias
by a white brick wall

©Ken Chawkin
July 31, 2017
Fairfield, Iowa

Celebrating Poetry Month with one of my poems, Poetry—The Art of the Voice, and what inspired it

April 10, 2017

Since 1996, the Academy of American Poets have designated April as National Poetry Month as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. Since 1998, National Poetry Month has also been celebrated each April in Canada. Being a Canadian living in the United States, I have 2 reasons to celebrate it with a poem I wrote on the subject 17.5 years ago. I’d also like to share what inspired me to write it.

One morning, while recuperating from a cold in my room, I had been listening to the Diane Rehm Show. At the end she announced her guest for the next day, Bill Moyers, who would talk about his latest poetry project. I tuned in and recorded it on Tues, Oct 05, 1999, 10-11 a.m. ET.

In that episode of the show, Moyers discussed his upcoming PBS poetry special: Fooling with Words with Bill Moyers, the result of a visit to the Dodge Poetry Festival, which featured readings by US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and other leading poets. He also mentioned his accompanying book, Fooling With Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft (William Morrow). You can actually see Part One and Part Two of Fooling With Words, produced by and archived at Moyers & Company.

Moyers mentioned that television lends itself well to the human voice reading poetry. He said, “Poetry is music for the human voice,” but what really made an impression on him was watching “people listening to poetry.” His cameras focused in on both the poets reading their poems, and members of the audience listening attentively.

What Bill Moyers said about this dynamic caught my attention: “Poetry is reflected in the face of the listener, in the eyes, and in the intensity of the listener’s response. It’s like a mirror to the poet’s own face. And you watch those faces and you really see that poetry is sinking in, and meeting an audience in that individual listener.”

Diane and Bill then invited 3 poets on the show to read a poem and explain how they came to write it: Marge Piercy, Mark Strand (16:44), and Jane Hirshfield (32:57). After listening to the ideas and images expressed in the conversations and poems, I was so inspired that I wrote a poem about it called: Poetry—The Art of the Voice.

Poetry—The Art of the Voice

How fine will your breath become
from listening to these words?
How soft will they seem to be
as they settle through the mind
like silent snowflakes falling
from a windless winter sky?

I often marvel at the mystery—
how words can work
on a listener’s heart and mind,
upon hearing a poet’s thoughts,
a poet’s breath, flowing
from an inner voice—

a windless wind, speaking
through a voiceless voice.

© Ken Chawkin

Years later, when Freddy Fonseca put out a call for poems from Fairfield poets for This Enduring Gift-A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry (2010), I sent it in along with some other poems.  At Freddy’s suggestion I changed one word, which caused me to refine it even more, taking it to the intended level. He published it, five haiku, and a tanka, and later selected it as POEM OF THE DAY: Poetry – The Art of the Voice, by Ken Chawkin.

Over the years, Bill Moyers has welcomed some of America’s best poets to share their works and inspiration. Many of those writers have performed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, which Bill and his colleagues covered for television specials including Fooling with Words (1999), The Language of Life (1995) and Sounds of Poetry (1999). Enjoy Poets in Performance, a showcase of such poetry from past and recent productions from Moyers & Company, performed by the poets who dreamed them up, or by other artists who, like Bill, simply adore poetry.

Another poem I wrote at that time was Thinking of You Today. It was inspired by reading Jorie Graham’s poem, Salmon (PDF), included in The New Yorker article about her. The spirit of beauty in that poem touched me and I had to write one too. It came out in one take, not a word changed.

Filmmaker David Lynch to Give Commencement Address at Maharishi University of Management

June 8, 2016

Over 350 to Graduate from Maharishi University, June 18

Over 350 (366) students representing 50 (53) countries will graduate from Maharishi University of Management at the 2016 commencement ceremony at 1:00 p.m., on Saturday, June 18, in the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome. The public is invited to attend.

Noted filmmaker David Lynch will offer the 2016 commencement address. He is famous for films such as The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive, and Blue Velvet. His many awards include a Golden Globe for Best TV Series for his 1990–1991 show Twin Peaks. He recently finished filming a new season of Twin Peaks that will air in 2017.

Graduates include 37 in South Africa

Those receiving diplomas include 74 undergraduates in Fairfield, 37 undergraduates in South Africa, 160 students in the MS in computer science, and 80 students in other graduate programs. About 160 are expected to participate in the ceremony. Those in South Africa attend the Maharishi Institute in Johannesburg for their first two years of college, and then enroll at MUM via distance education for their third and fourth years of study toward a degree in business.

David Lynch to receive honorary doctorate

David Lynch-Adam Bordow

David Lynch photo by Adam Bordow

David Lynch’s preferred method for public speaking is to take questions from the audience; so four students on stage will ask him questions about life-oriented topics that commencement speakers traditionally address.

As part of the commencement ceremony, the university will present Mr. Lynch with a Doctor of World Peace honoris causa degree, “In recognition of the enormous role he has played in promoting Maharishi’s knowledge throughout the world, transforming people’s lives through the work of the David Lynch Foundation, and laying the foundation for a truly peaceful world,” said Dr. Bevan Morris, president of Maharishi University of Management.

His David Lynch Foundation, started in 2005, raises funds to support bringing the Transcendental Meditation technique to those most in need: underserved inner-city students, veterans with PTSD and their families, and women and children who are survivors of violence and abuse. As a result of the Foundation’s activities, hundreds of thousands of people have learned and benefitted from the Transcendental Meditation technique.

“Not only is David transforming lives through his Foundation, he has made countless people aware of the Transcendental Meditation technique throughout the U.S. and around the world,” said Craig Pearson, executive vice-president of MUM. “Many well-known thought leaders in the U.S. have adopted the practice and have publicly endorsed it at events sponsored by his Foundation.”

Lynch’s activities on campus

Lynch has long been an important member of the MUM family, as a member of the Board of Trustees and in lending his name to the David Lynch MFA in Film program. He has connected with the film students via Skype, has spoken in person to a class, and has hosted the students at his studio in Los Angeles.

He has been practicing Transcendental Meditation since 1973, and has spent time on campus on a number of occasions. In 2006, he offered the first of three annual “David Lynch Weekends,” which brought hundreds of visitors to campus to learn about consciousness, creativity, and the brain.

Nominated for 4 Academy Awards

Lynch has been nominated for an Academy Award 4 times: three times as Best Director and once for Best Screenplay. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honor, the country’s top civilian honor, as a Chevalier in 2002 and then an Officier in 2007. He has won France’s César Award for Best Foreign Film two times, as well as the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival. Mr. Lynch has been described as “the most important director of this era” by The Guardian as well as “the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking” by Allmovie.

About Maharishi University

Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in Fairfield, IA is a private university featuring Consciousness-Based Education. The accredited traditional curriculum offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in the arts, sciences, humanities, and business, but also integrates self-development programs. Innovative aspects include the Transcendental Meditation program, one course at a time, and organic vegetarian meals. Visitors’ weekends are held throughout the year. For more information, call the Admissions Office at 800-369-6480 or visit http://www.mum.edu.

Contact: Ken Chawkin, kchawkin@mum.edu, (641) 472-1314

Editor’s note: Check back here for graduation publicity.

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