What are some the differences between the written and the spoken word?
The written word is more trusted, deceptively so, being safely static on the page. But once tasted on the tips of our minds it lingers underneath, giving birth to fetishes our conscious self is not ready to accept.
The spoken word is more personal, bringing timbre to the notes in our hearts, voice to the secrets that strangers share. It promises and lies. It strokes our egos and our sex. It commands in whispers, delivers in breathless surrender.
Poets are the worst of us, bleeding their issues all over the page like common gossips. Poets are the best of us, providing glimpses through the looking-glass at the chaotic promise of life. Poets are philosphers, touching reality with deft strokes of their wordwise verse. Poets are saints, prayed to, adored for the way they carry us with them, tugged by verse and by vanity into their dreams and desires.
Leonard Cohen is my kind of poet.
[audio:LeonardCohen_HeardOfAMan.mp3]
Leonard Cohen, intro to Silent All These Years (with Tori Amos)
DELICIOUS!