In search of a poem

[Candleburn]

?

[MarieM]

Is this your post? It's the video of Leonard reading that line recorded at his exhibition at the Jewish Museum.

http://pixofo.com/post/2110007862079447988_471444714

It actually is more audio, as the video looks like there are stars floating through the air. Could this be the Depression Chamber exhibit?

[Candleburn]

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[MarieM]

No, I don't know where the line comes from, but you definitely have made me curious. I'll see what I can find out. The line is very intriguing.

[Candleburn]

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[MarieM]

A small piece of the puzzle. Gordana, who is a member here, has provided the exhibit where Leonard recites the line.

https://vimeo.com/221340683?fbclid=IwAR ... Ug-3mzIUiw

Leonard recites the line at the one minute mark.

[B4real]

Ah, Candleburn,
I was about to reply to your request but I now see you could no longer be requiring it!
It would be nice to know if you are still interested or maybe you have already answered your own question

Marie, thanks for posting the video I hadn’t seen it before.

[Candleburn]

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[B4real]

Hi there! Thanks so much - I’m now pretty sure this line of poetry has never materialised in any of Cohen’s published works, but if you have other information I would love to know it!

The interview extract, I have learned, is from a CBC interview conducted in 1979, for a program called Audience.

Hi Candleburn,
Thanks for the info! It’s you helping me now, ha! I was just about to contact Kara to ask which CBC interview that elusive line was from because it’s not listed in their vaults. They do have LC’s words in the paragraph before that line in a retro collection put together in 2012 but there is no mention of where they come from and they may not be from the same interview. If you could listen to that 1979 Audience interview it may reveal more about the line we want. And if at all possible, please point us in the direction of the interview or post a link here for everyone else to enjoy!

I can’t add anything else definite and unless I’m going cross-eyed it’s not an official line. The 1979 date you posted seems to confirm my original inclination that it sounds like his train of thought in that transitional period from DOALM 1978 to BOM 1984 – “Will you fumble with a candle in the furnace of the Lord, or will you leap into the darkness like a spark?” Maybe it was simply an inspired isolated line and didn’t belong to any particular poem when he wrote it then or after. I think it’s a great line as is this one I found in my search for it in The Flame notes section (no title or date either) the last line on page 259 – “Sometimes the light of a firefly, sometimes the light of a furnace”.

[Candleburn]

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[B4real]

Well, it would appear we have all done what we can to find this line. It still would be great to listen to that CBC interview - Audience from 1979. Maybe someone will come across it and let us know.

I thought I'd mention that the song What Happens To The Heart just released from the new album has reminded me of a line from the written poem of the same name in The Flame and first published on The LC Files a few months before Leonard's passing in 2016 - “It failed my little fire, but it’s bright the dying spark.”
hummm .... there's no failure here because his spark will eternally be bright!