Patti Smith

In Just Kids, Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal days of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel in the late sixties and seventies. An honest and moving story of youth and friendship, Smith brings the same unique, lyrical quality to Just Kids as she has to the rest of her formidable body of work--from her influential 1975 album Horses to her visual art and poetry.

M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, we travel to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico; to the fertile moon terrain of Iceland; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York's Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; to the West 4th Street subway station, filled with the sounds of the Velvet Underground after the death of Lou Reed; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishima. Woven throughout are reflections on the writer's craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith's life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith. Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multiplatform artists at work today.

From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year. Following a run of New Year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs–including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger’s words, “Anything is possible: after all, it’s the Year of the Monkey.” For Smith–inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing–the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

A work of creative brilliance may seem like magic—its source a mystery, its impact unexpectedly stirring. How does an artist accomplish such an achievement, connecting deeply with an audience never met? In this groundbreaking book, one of our culture’s beloved artists offers a detailed account of her own creative process, inspirations, and unexpected connections. Patti Smith, a National Book Award-winning author, first presents an original and beautifully crafted tale of obsession—a young skater who lives for her art, a possessive collector who ruthlessly seeks his prize, a relationship forged of need both craven and exalted. She then takes us on a second journey, exploring the sources of her story. We travel through the South of France to Camus’s house, and visit the garden of the great publisher Gallimard where the ghosts of Mishima, Nabokov, and Genet mingle. Smith tracks down Simone Weil’s grave in a lonely cemetery, hours from London, and winds through the nameless Paris streets of Patrick Modiano’s novels. Whether writing in a café or a train, Smith generously opens her notebooks and lets us glimpse the alchemy of her art and craft in this arresting and original book on writing. The Why I Write series is based on the Windham-Campbell Lectures, delivered annually to commemorate the awarding of the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes at Yale University.

Witt is a collection of poems written by Patti Smith, in 1973. Published on June 1st 1973 by Gotham Book Mart & Gallery in New York city, a rare hard to find classic.

First edition

Contains Smith's poems along with her prose, lyrics, pictures and drawings.

Collected here are selections from Patti Smith's writings over the decade in which she made a lasting impact on America's underground literary and rock scene. Smith's work evokes the experimentation and the desire to break boundaries of those pre-punk days. Over one-quarter of the works selected are unpublished pieces from journals, performances, and Smith's personal papers. Heavily illustrated with photographs by Judy Linn, Robert Mapplethorpe, Edward Maxey, and others, Early Work brings together all sides of Patti Smith, from the thoughtful intellectual to the explosive performer.

Pek çok eleştirmen tarafından 2010’un en iyi kitabı olarak gösterilen ve son olarak prestijli National Book Award’u kazanan ÇOLUK ÇOCUK, bir aşk hikâyesi olarak başlayıp bir ağıt olarak sona eriyor. Altmışların sonu, yetmişlerin başındaki New York’a, onun zengin ve fakir insanlarına, sanatçılarına ve serserilerine bir selam çakıyor. Yolun başında birbirlerine göz kulak olmaya söz vermiş iki genç sanatçı, Patti Smith ve Robert Mapplethorpe’un yükselişini ve şöhret kapısını aralayışlarını nefes kesici bir içtenlik ve saflıkta anlatan bu kitap, gerçek bir masal.

Éramos unos niños. La historia de amistad que unió a Mapplethorpe y Patti Smith contada por ella misma. Nacida en Chicaco en 1946, Smith saltó a la fama durante el movimiento punk con su álbum debut Horses. La llamada «madrina del punk» aportó un punto de vista feminista e intelectual al movimiento y se convirtió en una de las artistas más influyentes dentro de la música rock, integrándola con un estilo de poesía beat. Los inicios de su carrera estuvieron marcados por su amistad con el fotógrafo Mapplethorpe con quien, según ella, se casó para disimular su homosexualidad. Estas memorias son un recorrido por las calles del Nueva York de fi nales de los años setenta y principios de los ochenta, un mundo ya perdido donde circulaban Allen Ginsberg o Andy Warhol y sus chicos, y donde se creaban las grandes bandas de música que marcaron el fin del siglo XX.

A deeply moving and brilliantly idiosyncratic visual book of days by the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids and M Train, featuring more than 365 images and reflections that chart Smith’s singular aesthetic—inspired by her wildly popular Instagram. In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message “Hello Everybody!” Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. Followers felt an immediate affinity with these miniature windows into Smith’s world, photographs of her daily coffee, the books she’s reading, the graves of beloved heroes—William Blake, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Simone Weil, Albert Camus. Over time, a coherent story of a life devoted to art took shape, and more than a million followers responded to Smith’s unique aesthetic in images that chart her passions, devotions, obsessions, and whims. Original to this book are vintage photographs: anniversary pearls, a mother’s keychain, and a husband’s Mosrite guitar. Here, too, are photos from Smith’s archives of life on and off the road, train stations, obscure cafés, a notebook always nearby. In wide-ranging yet intimate daily notations, Smith shares dispatches from her travels around the world. With over 365 photographs taking you through a single year, A Book of Days is a new way to experience the expansive mind of the visionary poet, writer, and performer. Hopeful, elegiac, playful—and complete with an introduction by Smith that explores her documentary process—A Book of Days is a timeless offering for deeply uncertain times, an inspirational map of an artist’s life.

La esencia de Patti Smith, su ADN. «Una joya escondida. Entre las mejores de ellas.»Library Journal «Rompimos el corazón de nuestra madre y nos convertimos en lo que somos.» La artista que ha inscrito su visión de nuestro mundo en poderosos himnos, baladas y letras desvela en esta deliciosa colección de poemas su universo más íntimo: el vínculo con la naturaleza y el paisaje, su mapa interior, las contradicciones del individuo, su meditación sobre la muerte y con la fe. Un monólogo interior fresco y original impregnado de influencias eclécticas como las de Rimbaud, Picasso, Arbus, o William Blake, cuya poesía la acompañó desde que, a la edad de ocho años, su madre le regaló un ejemplar de Canciones de inocencia y de experiencia. La gran creadora que confesó «Si tuviera que quedarme con una sola cosa sería la literatura» deslumbra con su poesía. La crítica ha dicho...«Patti Smith nunca ha necesitado demostrar nada a nadie, pero la reina del rock es experta en dejar boquiabierto a quien la escucha, a quien la mira y a quien la lee. [...] En estas páginas [plasma] lo más rimbaudiano de su alma, siendo capaz de remover estómagos, corazones y palabras.»Paola Aragón Pérez, La Vanguardia - Fashion & Arts Magazine «Un trabajo de poesía que demuestra que [...] Smith puede llegar a brillar en la literatura, [...] fiel a su naturaleza de trovadora.»Ulises Fuente, La Razón «Un libro duro, magnético y bello. Un poemario revelación, como una visión o un manifiesto de esperanza, que lucha contra el horror, contempla la barbarie para luego acusar a sus culpables y exonera a los niños, los de ahora y los que llevamos dentro, que quizá hemos traicionado.»Ester Andorrà, El Nacional «En su primer poemario en varios años, Augurios de inocencia, presenta obras ligerase inquietantes por su indagación espiritual, la imaginería original y las asociaciones insólitas. [...] Romántica y renegada, Smith pasa de la ira a la empatía y nos recuerda que puede haber sanación en la protesta, consuelo en el lenguaje, catarsis en la expresión. Como siempre, nos lleva a las profundidades más dolorosas y luego nos acerca bailando hacia la luz.»Donna Seaman, Booklist «Treinta años después de Horses la luz de Smith sigue brillando con fuerza.»San Francisco Chronicle «Una joya escondida. Entre las mejores de ellas.»Library Journal

"Through these poems, a singular, glowing vision of Robert Mapplethorpe develops and emerges. In The Coral Sea , Patti Smith (in the words of Tennessee Williams) 'rings the bell of pure poetry.' "―William S. Burroughs In linked pieces Patti Smith tells the story of a man on a journey to see the Southern Cross, who is reflecting on his life and fighting the illness that is consuming him. Metaphoric and dreamy, this tale of transformation arises from Smith's knowledge of Mapplethorpe as a young man and as a mature artist, his close relationship with his patron and friend, Sam Wagstaff, and his years surviving AIDS and his ascent into death. Rich in detail, it is filled with references to Mapplethorpe's work and shows the man beneath the persona. Set against photographs by Mapplethorpe, the work emerges as a hymn, a prayer, a fable wishing him Godspeed on his latest journey. "She was once our savage Rimbaud, but suffering has turned her into our St. John of the Cross, a mystic full of compassion."--Edmund White

1972 collection of poems from the Godmother of Punk and the author of the National Book Award winner "Just Kids." Includes the 1."Seventh Heaven" 2."Sally" 3."Jeanne Darc" 4."Renee Falconetti" 5."A Fire of Unknown Origin" 6."Edie Sedgwick" 7."Crystal" 8."Marianne Faithfull" 9."Girl Trouble" 10."Cocaine" 11."Judith" 12."Fantasy" 13."Marilyn Miller" 14."Mary Jane" 15."Amelia Earhart I" 16."Amelia Earhart II" 17."Linda" 18."Death by Water" 19."Celine" 20."Dog Dream" 21."Female" 22."Longing"

Described by her critics alternately as the "godmother of punk" and "rock and roll's poet laureate," Patti Smith is an American original. Her first album, Horses, was a landmark album of power, bravado, beauty, and grace. Its famous cover portrait, photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe, "was the first to claim both vision and authority," wrote Camille Paglia. "No female rocker had ever dominated an image in this aggressive, uncompromising way."Seven albums later, and a life punctuated by a long hiatus during which Smith raised her two children and suffered the tragic losses of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith, her dear friend, Robert Mapplethorpe, and her beloved brother, Smith is ready to mark her first fifty years on the planet with a book her fans have long awaited: the complete lyrics. With never-before-seen photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Liebovitz, Kate Simon, and others, plus original artwork and text by Smith, Patti Smith Complete is a living commemoration of Smith's unique contribution to music and the empowerment of people through her message of work, love, and charity.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Just Kids : a “sublime collection of true stories … and wild imaginings that take us to the very heart of who Patti Smith is” ( Vanity Fair ), told through the cafés and haunts she has worked in around the world. Patti Smith calls this bestselling work “a roadmap to my life.” M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, we travel to Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico; to the fertile moon terrain of Iceland; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York’s Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; to the West 4th Street subway station, filled with the sounds of the Velvet Underground after the death of Lou Reed; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishima. Woven throughout are reflections on the writer’s craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith’s life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith.     Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multiplatform artists at work today. Featuring a postscript with five new photos from Patti Smith

A great book about becoming an artist, Woolgathering tells of a youngster finding herself as she learns the noble vocation of woolgathering, a worthy calling that seemed a good job for me. She discovers often at night, often in nature the pleasures of rescuing a fleeting thought. Deeply moving, Woolgathering calls up our own memories, as the child glimpses and gleans, piecing together a crazy quilt of truths. Smith introduces us to her tribe, a race of cloud dwellers, and to the fierce, vital pleasures of cloud watching and stargazing and wandering. A radiant new autobiographical piece, Two Worlds (which was not in the original 1992 Hanuman edition of Woolgathering), and the author's photographs and illustrations are also included. Woolgathering celebrates the sacred nature of creation with Smith's beautiful style, acclaimed as glorious (NPR), spellbinding (Booklist), rare and ferocious (Salon), and shockingly beautiful (New York Magazine).

This captivating selection of 70 intimate black and white photographs conveys Patti Smith's singular experience as a photographer as it relates to many facets of her fascinating life and career. Exquisitely designed and produced, Patti Smith: Camera Solo accompanies the first museum exhibition of the artist's photography in the United States. Using either a vintage Land 100 or a Land 250 Polaroid camera, Smith photographs subjects inspired by her connections to poetry and literature as well as pictures that honor the personal effects of those she admires or loves. In the catalogue's interview, conducted by Susan Lubowsky Talbott, the artist talks about her "respect for the inanimate object" as well as the talismanic qualities of things in her life. We see, for instance, a picture of Mapplethorpe's slippers or a porcelain cup that belonged to her father, and are drawn into their intimacy and quiet power. Moreover, these images reveal how the camera has proven to be a means for Smith to retreat—undisturbed—to "a room of my own." From her explorations as a visual artist in the 1960s and 70s and her profound influence on the nascent punk rock scene in the late 1970s and 80s, to Just Kids, her National Book Award-winning memoir of life with her beloved friend Robert Mapplethorpe, Smith continues to make an indelible mark on the American cultural landscape.

Auguries of Innocence is the first book of poetry from Patti Smith in more than a decade. It marks a major accomplishment from a poet and performer who has inscribed her vision of our world in powerful anthems, ballads, and lyrics. In this intimate and searing collection of poems, Smith joins in that great tradition of troubadours, journeymen, wordsmiths, and artists who respond to the world around them in fresh and original language. Her influences are eclectic and Blake, Rimbaud, Picasso, Arbus, and Johnny Appleseed. Smith is an American original; her poems are oracles for our times.

“Nel 1991 ho vissuto nei sobborghi di Detroit con mio marito e i miei due figli, in una vecchia casa di pietra posta accanto a un canale che si gettava nel lago Saint Clair. Amavo profondamente la mia famiglia e la nostra casa, e tuttavia quella primavera conobbi una terribile e inesprimibile malinconia. Me ne stavo seduta per ore sotto i salici, persa nei miei pensieri. Fu in questa atmosfera che cominciai a scrivere I tessitori di sogni. Cominciai a dedicarmici al principio dell’autunno, proprio mentre le pere iniziavano a prender forma. Scrissi a mano su fogli di carta millimetrata, e il 30 dicembre 1991, il giorno del mio quarantacinquesimo compleanno, portai a termine il manoscritto. Qualcuno mi ha chiesto se definirei I tessitori di sogni una fiaba. Ho sempre adorato questo genere di racconti, ma temo che non possieda i requisiti necessari. Tutto ciò che è contenuto in questo libro è vero, ed è stato descritto esattamente com’era. La sua stesura mi ha scosso dal mio strano torpore e spero che in qualche modo colmi il lettore di una vaga e singolare gioia.” Patti Smith