Selected poetry

Patti's earliest works

Before she was Patti Smith, fiery and brazen frontwoman of the Patti Smith Group and reigning queen of punk rock, she was Patti, lover of Picasso, Rimbaud, and Dylan, aspiring but inward artist and poet. Patti “desired, as Youth does, to be taken by the hand and hurled into the world” outside the monotony and lifelessness of suburban South Jersey.[1] Fleeing her life of factory work and teaching school, Patti bought a one-way ticket to New York City in 1967 and never looked back. The magic of the city during the Summer of Love and several chance encounters led her to Robert Mapplethorpe, a like-minded visual artist who would become a renowned photographer as well as Patti's lifetime companion, best friend, and the "artist of [her] life."[2] Patti and Robert lived together through the late 60’s and early 70’s, creating together and planting in each other the seeds of their futures selves. It was Patti who always encouraged Robert to take his own photographs for use in his art, and it was Robert who first heard Patti’s poetry and knew it called for a larger audience. Patti’s first poetry reading took place at an open mike in 1971, two years before her pivotal performance at the Poetry Project of St. Mark’s Church. Between the two events, between Patti, patron of the arts, and Patti, owner of the stage, came the release of her first poetry books and initial publications. The following are selected scans of original pages from these collections, chapbooks, and broadsides taken from Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.

Cover page of "Poem #2" by Patti Smith and Richard Hell, 1977.

Intersection with the New York School

The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, the “epicenter of… the postmodern urban poem” and a favorite haunt for second generation New York School poets, was established in 1966, bolstering live performance culture for the New York poetry scene.[3] Directors of the Poetry Project throughout the years include New York School members Anne Waldman, Ron Padgett, and Eileen Myles.[4] In a time when the burgeoning rock and roll scene and the work of the New York School were mutually exclusive, Patti Smith brought them together and defined the trajectory of her career in one crucial performance. Patti’s early poetry reveals traces of a New York School influence; for example, her poem “Rape” from Witt (1973) begins with “yum yum,” a phrase echoed from Frank O’Hara’s “Blocks” and the characteristic casualness of New York School writers.[5] However, the use of “yum yum” in a poem about rape is ironic and runs contrary to O’Hara’s description of oatmeal cookies. This pattern is repeated throughout Patti’s poems in this period; where she sprinkles nods to New York School writer styles and trademarks, she twists their original purpose for her own ends.[6]

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

https://www.villagevoice.com/2016/12/14/the-poetry-projects-half-century-of-dissent/

Patti at the St. Mark's reading

https://www.villagevoice.com/2016/12/14/the-poetry-projects-half-century-of-dissent/

The subsequent events after Patti and Lenny Kaye’s performance at St. Mark’s follow a parallel structure; Patti builds off her influence and connection to the New York School to move in a unique direction, in turn denouncing their work. Patti’s second published poetry collection in 1972, Seventh Heaven, was published through Telegraph Books. This group were notable for publishing the works of writers such as Gerard Malanga, Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, and Tom Clark, many of whom were associated with the second generation of the New York School.[7] However, she aggressively sought to exist outside their conventions. She asserted in her memoir Just Kids that her goal “was not simply to do well, or to hold [her] own. It was to make a mark on St. Mark’s… [She] wanted to infuse the written word with the immediacy and frontal attack of rock and roll.”[8] As her artistic evolution suggests, Patti grew to desire a distance between herself and traditional poetry, feeling as though spoken word failed as a sufficient form of expression. By performing at the Poetry Project, she wanted not to be welcomed into the world of the New York School poets but to make known her presence by defying the spoken word traditions of the institution at the institution itself. In an undated letter to Anne Waldman, former director of St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Smith asserted her love for figures famously hated by New York School poets such as Vachel Lindsay, Dylan Thomas, and William Carlos Williams, and she stated that while she “pretty well hate[d] most of the stuff you guys [the New York School poets] do… I also love you guys… cause you keep poetry alive.” Her distant but appreciative perspective on the relatively traditional New York School of poetry is best summed up by her words in the letter: “I think it’s real neat what you’re doing, I just got different theories.”[9]

[1] Smith, Patti. “We Can Be Heroes (Details, July 1993).” a patti smith babelogue, 20 November 2019, http://www.oceanstar.com/patti/poetry/heroes.htm.

[2] Smith, Patti. Just Kids (Ecco, 2010). 18 November 2019.

[3] Kimmelman, Burt. “From Black Mountain College to St. Mark’s Church: The Cityscape Poetics of Blackburn, di Prima, and Oppenheimer (2002).” Rain Taxi.

[4] Diggory, Terence. Encyclopedia of the New York School Poets (Facts on File, 2009). 20 November 2019.

[5] Smith, Patti. Witt (Gotham Book Mark, 1973). Accessed 7 November 2019.

[6] Kane, Daniel. Do You Have A Band?: Poetry and Punk Rock in New York City (Columbia University Press, 2017). 20 November 2019.

[7] Kane, Do You Have A Band?.

[8] Smith, Just Kids.

[9] Kane, Do You Have A Band?.

complete bibliography, 1972-1978

1972

kodak

Middle Earth Books, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Paperback, 17 pages

Extremely rare; only 100 copies, numbered and signed by Patti, were printed by Middle Earth Books. Cover photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe; Patti wanted the cover to resemble the cover of Bob Dylan's Tarantula, as "a cover of a cover."[3] 9 poems, including poetic version of "Redondo Beach," track 2 off Horses (1975).

Seventh Heaven

Telegraph Books, Boston, MA, USA

Paperback, 47 pages

50 signed and numbered first editions. 22 poems. Patti refers to this collection as "lighter, rhythmic, and oral." [4] Telegraph Book was a publishing company that largely published the works of writers associated with the second generation of the New York School. [5]

A Useless Death

Gotham Book Mart, New York, NY, USA

Chapbook, 3 pages

300 numbered and signed copies, 26 lettered and signed copies. Single long poem "A Useless Death." Includes drawing done by Patti of a girl falling through the air. [6]

Early morning dream

Chapbook, 8 pages

Extremely rare; limited to 100 copies.

1973

Witt

Gotham Book Mart, New York, NY, USA

Hardcover and paperback, 45 pages

22 poems. Patti notes that this collection "makes use of the prose poem, reflecting the influence of French Symbolists." [7]

"Mon vieux lucien"

Broadside, 1 page

300 copies, 50 signed. Features illustrations by Patti. Inspired by Edith Piaf's song"Mon vieux lucien".

1974

"Rock n' Rimbaud III" Handbill

Handbill, 1 page

Printed and signed for Patti's show at the Riverside Plaza Hotel.

1976

The Night

by Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine

Aloes Books, London, United Kingdom

Paperback, 14 pages

22 numbered poems, the odd-numbered ones written by Patti and the even-numbered ones written by Verlaine. The back page refers to the collection as "Part One: The night," explaining that "This book is in two parts, part one titled 'The night', part two 'Independence day'. Part two is to be published next season." [8] Part two was likely never published. The cover art and title page design are modeled after an 1896 edition of Rimbaud's Les Illuminations.

1977

"Dolor Desvelado"

Gotham Book Mart, New York, NY, USA

Broadside, 1 page

Ha! Ha! Houdini!

Gotham Book Mart, New York, NY, USA

Chapbook, 8 pages

Single long poem "Ha! Ha! Houdini!". Patti signed 126 first editions.

Patti Smith – Galerie Veith Turske

Galerie Veith Turske, Cologne, West Germany

Paperback, 48 pages

Gallery catalogue published for special poetry reading at the Veith Turske gallery commemorating Arthur Rimbaud's birthday. Contains reproductions of drawings and poetry on display in the gallery. Includes "Poem #2", co-written by Patti and Richard Hell.

1978

Babel (1974-1978)

G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, NY, USA

Hardcover and paperback, 202 pages

Collection of poems, photographs, and drawings dating from between 1974 and 1978.