Why Patti writes... selected examples
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| Cover photo by David Gahr |
DEVOTION is Patti's response to the question 'Why I Write': a collection of writings
with some B&W photos © 2017-18
"Inspiration is the unforeseen quantity, the muse that
assails at the hidden hour. The arrows fly and one is unaware of being struck,
and that a host of unrelated catalysts have joined clandestinely to form a
system of its own, rendering one with the vibrations of an incurable disease –
a burning imagination at once unholy and divine."
Patti Smith
(Introduction in DEVOTION)
2017
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| ^ 'Writing desk, NYC' - photo by Steven Sebring |
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| ^ 'Manuscript, Lalanne desk, NY' - photo by Steven Sebring |
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'Grand Mouflon De Pauline' 2006 (3/8) original design 1993
by FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (1927-2008)
Property
from the collection of Steven Sebring, sold at Christie's in 2018 for £
1,448,750!
Artist Claude Lalanne, wife of François-Xavier Lalanne is thanked at the end of Patti's book
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“We write because we cannot simply live. I can’t even go to the bathroom without a book in my hand. I have to have a book with me, or a notebook, and I’ve been like that for most of my life. You know, being an artist is like being a double agent. You’re trying to move through life with full attention but you can’t because something happens that triggers an idea. I’ll be sitting at a concert listening to Beethoven and my mind makes up a story and then I feel compelled to write it instead of listening to Beethoven. It’s that dual thing. You wanna engage fully in life and give your loved ones your full attention but often you just can’t.” (from a 2017 interview)
DEVOTION Part 1 - How the Mind Works:
Patti leaves New York to retrace the steps of some authors and artists in Paris, in Sète in the south of France and in England... gathering bribes of inspiration.
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| Guillaume Apollinaire by Picasso beside the church in St Germain-des-Prés, Paris as mentioned by Patti |
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| In Paris, where Albert Camus's former office was located |
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| Yukio Misihima sitting in a white rattan chair, photographed by André Bonin in the garden at Gallimard publishers, Paris as mentioned by Patti |
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| Patti in Paris in 1969 (photo by her sister Linda Bianucci) |
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| Patti finds the statue of Voltaire much changed: "the details of his once benevolent face, worn away by time, appear darkly comic, macabre" |
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| The grave of Simone Weil in England Photo accompanied by a new poem 'Ashford' |
DEVOTION Part 2 - Devotion:
A short fictional story by Patti that incorporates elements mentioned in
part 1.
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| 'Devotion' ends with a new poem 'Siberian Flowers' |
From 'Chapter 11 – The Letter' in 'Devotion' (short story) 2017
DEVOTION Part 3 – A Dream Is Not a Dream:
Patti recounts being invited by Albert Camus' daughter to visit the
family home in Lourmarin, in Provence. She stays in the room he wrote in and
she reads his last manuscript. |
| On the door of Albert Camus' room in Lourmarin. |
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| From Camus' house. He is buried in the cemetery across the field. |
DEVOTION Part 4 – Written on a Train:
Photos of Patti's handwritten notes for the short story 'Devotion' (see
part 2).
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| Photo taken in the south of France, where a headstone featured the word DEVOUEMENT (French for DEVOTION) |
~~~
Noguchi’s Butterflies
I can not walk
I can not see
Further than
what
Is in front of
me
I lay on my back
yet I do not cry
Transported in
space by the butterflies.
Above my bed
Another sky
With the wings
you sent
Within my sight
All pain
dissolves
In another light
Transported thru
Time
By the butterfly
This little song
Came to me
Like a little
gift as I stood
Beside the bed
of Frida.
I give it to you
with much love,
Patti Smith
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| (photographer unknown) |
On May 4th, 2012 a press conference for Patti Smith’s first show in Mexico was held at La Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s residence in Coyoacán (México City). Patti performed a couple of songs in their honour and wrote this poem for Frida, inspired by the butterfly collection that hangs horizontally over Frida’s bed and which had been given to Frida by her friend, the architect Isamu Noguchi.
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| Virtual visit of La casa Azul ~ The Frida Kahlo Museum |
A poem about Keith Richards:
WREATH
on the hills of rif we come to greet you
through the halls of myth we choose to roam
crown of thorns
shroud of love
our gifts we offer
and the waters of life
of health
of stone
on the hills of rif we call, undefeated
crown of thorns
kreed of love
and language comb
on the hills of rif we rise
salute you
ja-kiss your face of light and bone
through the halls of myth we choose to roam
crown of thorns
shroud of love
our gifts we offer
and the waters of life
of health
of stone
on the hills of rif we call, undefeated
crown of thorns
kreed of love
and language comb
on the hills of rif we rise
salute you
ja-kiss your face of light and bone
© 1979 - Patti Smith
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| Photo by Steven Sebring |
