Official Website of Suzanne Verdal
Artist & Muse of Leonard Cohen
1960’s – Present Day
Echoes Belonging to no one. Only to the cool Of Ivy trellis, Alongside whipperwills, And starlit hummingbirds. Am birthed in some strange Vintage memorie. Eternal echoes beckon me Wherein I return. The yet familiar song Do I pour forth To thee; from within. Away; the tumult glory ! Battlefield of opened scars Tied to chains. Whilst petals on roses Are stomped and pillaged ! Allow this moment To access moon's quietude. The solitude for Seeking Light. © Suzanne Verdal July 24/22
Suzanne Verdal & Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen deified “Suzanne” in what probably remains his most famous song — the first track on his first album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, in 1967. Contrary to common belief, the bewitching seductress who wore “rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters” (and served as muse to dozens of beat poets) was not Suzanne Elrod, the mother of Cohen’s two children, but the wife of Cohen’s sculptor friend Armand Vaillancourt. His Suzanne née Verdal, was a performance artist who often carried a little doll around Montreal — and whose playful, naïve spirit has been a timeless source of inspiration for other artists, as evidenced by this photograph by Jeremy Taylor … read more
“Suzanne takes you down
to her place near the river
you can hear the boats go by
you can spend the night beside her
and you know that she’s half crazy
but that’s why you want to be there
and she feeds you tea and oranges
that come all the way from China…”
Leonard Cohen