Book of Longing

A personal interpretation of ‘Book of Longing’ by Leonard Cohen. A collection of short poems that document Cohen’s time and struggle as a monk at the Zen monastery and subsequent escape back into the music industry. As a person who wasn’t familiar with the artist, my initial impression of Cohen was quite skeptical to say the least. Not being entirely inspired by the poems, I turned to the artist himself and immersed myself in what Cohen was celebrated for, his music. His posthumous album strung a particular chord with me.

This is a frame by fram animation paired a ukulele rendition of the song ‘Happens to the heart’. The line ‘the useless monk bow his head’ is featured as the line that best encapsulates this book.