I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.
Interpretation
The creative process often involves trial and error, and it's essential to recognize what doesn't work in order to refine one's art.
In this quote, Leonard Cohen reflects on the often tedious and challenging nature of the creative process. He acknowledges that it can take a considerable amount of time and effort to create a piece of work, only to realize that it lacks quality. However, it is through recognizing and discarding what doesn't meet one's standards that true artistic growth occurs, highlighting the importance of discernment in the journey of creation.
In practice
In a workshop about writing, one might say, 'As Leonard Cohen said, sometimes we need to discard ideas to find the right ones.'
What is most original in a man's nature is often that which is most desperate. Thus new systems are forced on the world by men who simply cannot bear the pain of living with what is. Creators care nothing for their systems except that they be unique. If Hitler had been born in Nazi Germany he wouldn't have been content to enjoy the atmosphere.
I always thought that poetry is the verdict that others give to a certain kind of writing. So to call yourself a poet is a kind of dangerous description. It's for others; it's for others to use.
Be With Me In The Phases Of My Work Because My Brain Feels Like It Has Been Whipped And I Yearn To Make A Small Perfect Thing Which Will Live In Your Morning Like Curious Static Through A President's Elegy Or A Nude Hunchback Acquiring A Tan On The Crowded Oily Beach.
I heard of a man who says words so beautifully that if he only speaks their name women give themselves to him. If I am dumb beside your body while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips it is because I hear a man climb stairs and clear his throat outside our door.
I think what we like about music - and what we like about art in general....is that enterprise that stops our minds from spinning. Because we're always all over the place. A good song, a good lyric is a movie: it will just focus and calm and confer significance on this completely bewildering reality that all of us live in.
Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.
Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.
Every one of my books had killed me a little more.
What I wanted to do in rock 'n roll was merge poetry with sonic scapes, and the two people who had contributed so much to that were Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.
Almost every magazine piece I've ever written, I felt like I haven't done it justice, like it was just a gloss.
Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.
For me, the creation of a photograph is experienced as a heightened emotional response, most akin to poetry and music, each image the culmination of a compelling impulse I cannot deny. Whether working with a human figure or a still life, I am deeply aware of my spiritual connection with it. In my life, as in my work, I am motivated by a great yearning for balance and harmony beyond the realm of human experience, reaching for the essence of oneness with the Universe.
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