Sure, I'll give you that. I actually don't know how many poets would include Cohen, if asked, but I think that may be as much a result of "mental typing" - i.e., Cohen writes songs therefore isn't a poet - as in terms of regard - for instance if you asked me to name my favorite rappers I wouldn't include a spoken word poet in there even though theoretically I believe the two genres are very close and you can be very good at both in part because they relate so much. I believe a divide is seen even though in practice that divide may be small or not exist. However, because of the way we label things, they become compartmentalized. As for being grateful to Cohen for keeping the appreciation of poetry alive, I'll give you a skeptical sure that can't make an argument against the assertion and so therefore is agreeing.I think there is a tendency to discount the poet that happens to be a musician or the musician that happens to be a poet, which is silly because the two often coexist so beautifully.
This is an accurate fact but my point about "mental typing" still stands - in fact, I think your point only serves to corroborate mine. If you took a street poll about "Who Leonard Cohen was?" I think you would get 9/10 people saying he was a musician or a songwriter over a poet, even despite this fact that he made an attempt in poetry before becoming famous for song.
HA. I think you are probably right on all counts.