Leonard Cohen - How to speak poetry (spoken)

I got it from Leonard Cohen "Master Poems" which you can download from http://musicforhumans1.blogspot.com

Hice una traducción al Español en caso que alguien la desee, simplemente me avisa.

How to speak poetry

From "Death of a Lady's Man"

Take the word butterfly. To use this word it is not necessary to make the voice weigh less than an ounce or equip it with small dusty wings. It is not necessary to invent a sunny day or a field of daffodils. It is not necessary to be in love, or to be in love with butterflies. The word butterfly is not a real butterfly. There is the word and there is the butterfly. If you confuse these two items people have the right to laugh at you. Do not make so much of the word. Are you trying to suggest that you love butterflies more perfectly than anyone else, or really understand their nature? The word butterfly is merely data. It is not an opportunity for you to hover, soar, befriend flowers, symbolize beauty and frailty, or in any way impersonate a butterfly. Do not act out words. Never act out words. Never try to leave the floor when you talk about flying. Never close your eyes and jerk your head to one side when you talk about death. Do not fix your burning eyes on me when you speak about love. If you want to impress me when you speak about love put your hand in your pocket or under your dress and play with yourself. If ambition and the hunger for applause have driven you to speak about love you should learn how to do it without disgracing yourself or the material.

And so on util we come to... (there's a par missing from the original text) Speak the words with the exact precision with which you would check out a laundry list. Do not become emotional about the lace blouse. Do not get a hard-on when you say panties. Do not get all shivery just because of the towel. The sheets should not provoke a dreamy expression about the eyes. There is no need to weep into the handkerchief. The socks are not there to remind you of strange and distant voyages. It is just your laundry. It is just your clothes. Don't peep through them. Just wear them.

The poem is nothing but information. It is the Constitution of the inner country. If you declaim it and blow it up with noble intentions then you are no better than the politicians whom you despise. You are just someone waving a flag and making the cheapest kind of appeal to a kind of emotional patriotism. Think of the words as science, not as art. They are a report. You are speaking before a meeting of the Explorers' Club of the National Geographic Society. These people know all the risks of mountain climbing. They honour you by taking this for granted. If you rub their faces in it that is an insult to their hospitality. Tell them about the height of the mountain, the equipment you used, be specific about the surfaces and the time it took to scale it. Do not work the audience for gasps ans sighs. If you are worthy of gasps and sighs it will not be from your appreciation of the event but from theirs. It will be in the statistics and not the trembling of the voice or the cutting of the air with your hands. It will be in the data and the quiet organization of your presence.

Avoid the flourish. Do not be afraid to be weak. Do not be ashamed to be tired. You look good when you're tired. You look like you could go on forever. Now come into my arms. You are the image of my beauty.

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[cait39]

All the cliché, identical-sounding slam poets should be forced to listen to this...

[snakez3]

this is incredible

[CHROMFINGER]

HOLA...!!! QUISIERA PODER VER LA VERSIÓN COMPLETA SUBTITULADA AL ESPAÑOL POR FAVOR...!!!!

GRACIAS...!!!

[sujitphatak]

this is genius.

[sumertime333]

purely semiotical! brilliant

[sentharia]

I have seen poetry read with as much emotion squeezed out of every word as possible and done well... but I generally think that is more slam than poetry suited to the page. I have to disagree with other people, slam poetry can be good: slam is about the emotion of language expressed through the voice. I prefer that poetry written for the page use the power of the words themselves to evoke an emotional or intellectual reaction (generally through good imagery). But all kinds of poets can suck.

[cakesyswipewalk]

"these people know the risks of mountain climbing, they honour you by taking this for granted." that's my favourite line.

[wakeboarder2nd]

This makes me smile. He understands what makes good poetry, good poetry.

[podcastshmodcast]

do not get a hard on when you speak of panties. YES , leonard!!!!