Nashville, October 1968

Autograph poem to Marianne Ihlen [Nashville, October 1968]. – IHLEN, Marianne (1935-2016). Autograph letter signed ("M.") to Leonard Cohen, no place, no date.

Cohen's letter: one page, 265 x 185mm, Noel Hotel letterhead, with transmittal envelope addressed to "Marianne Ihlen Cohen"; Ihlen's letter: four pages, 138 x 212mm.

"Finished the record on acid, amphetamine and prayer."

While recording his second album in Nashville, Cohen sends a poem that speaks to his creative process at this time:

I often think of a blonde girl-monkey when I masturbate
Finished the record on acid, amphetamine and prayer
The miracle took place and my singing master sang through me.

Nashville rain making the years shine
The True wanderer enters a hotel room
and labours on a letter for the loveliest of women.

Cohen moved to rural Tennessee while recording Songs From a Room, in an effort to recreate the simple existence he had with Marianne in Hydra. By this time he was living with Suzanne Elrod, the nineteen-year old from Miami whom he had met in New York. Even so, his poem describes "labours on a letter for the loveliest of women," and the album Songs From a Room would be released in March 1969 featuring an iconic photo of Marianne in Hydra on its back cover. She is also credited with helping inspire the first song on the album, "Bird on a Wire," of which Cohen would say in 1975: "I always begin my concert with this song. It seems to return me to my duties" (The Best of Leonard Cohen).

The poem is accompanied by a letter from Marianne headed "LSD or No LSD?" and gives voice to her loneliness at the end of their time together. She describes panic, emptiness, and tears at length, but closes with renewed strength: "No waiting, it is my own move my own world my own life. What do I want to do with it? Live it. Starting Right now this moment. When I am OK I am OK. I pray. I love you. M."

By descent from Marianne Ihlen.