Hello loved ones,
This week I bring you a dispatch from the Greek Island of Hydra.
I’d never heard of Hydra until my husband and I snuggled up last winter to watch the marvelous series on NRK (the Norwegian BBC for my readers outside of Norway) about Leonard Cohen and his Norwegian Muse Marianne Ihlen, subject of Cohen’s famous song “So Long, Marianne”.
An obsession inherited from my mother, I am a Leonard Cohen devotee. I bring a copy of his book “The Book of Longing” to every single one of my shows and keep it in my dressing room. Leonard’s book nestles inside my suitcase along with Marilyn Monroe’s autobiography “My Story”. I like to imagine they are backstage waiting for me while I perform. I know they got nervous too.
Of course you can imagine how I delighted in watching Leonard and Marianne’s Love Story unfold on screen. How excited I was to learn that Leonard too had been led by love to Oslo. When we finished the series my husband and I decided to take a trip to Hydra, the Greek island once a cheap sun haven to the broke 60s beat poets, artists and it-crowd that went on to define their era.
We rocked up to Hydra this June, over half a century later to find the harbour now lined with superyachts, and dress shops to make a poetess swoon. I spent every single morning writing in the cafe where Leonard & Marianne, along with the likes of Charmian Clift and Allen Ginsberg used to sit and wait for the mailboat from Athens carrying their royalty checks.
Here is a poem I penned during our poetry pilgrimage. I am contemplating motherhood a lot these days, so buckle up for the juicy details.
This is The Night We Almost Made You. “I swallowed the sun backwards” is one of the best lines I have ever written. What else could I credit for that line but Hydra and her sublime and quite magical creative power?
