Patti Smith, American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist.
Patti Smith won the National Book Award for Just Kids, an incredible autobiography. Her book inspired me to write this poem, which barely scratches the surface of her great influence on me. Here is one of Patti's early poems:
the sheep lady from algiers
nodding tho' the lamps lit lownodding for passers undergroundto and fro she's darning andthe yarn is weeping red and palemarking the train stops from algiers
sleeping tho' the eyes are palehums in rhythum w/a bonnet onlullaby a broken songthe sifting-cloth is bleeding redweeping yarn from algiers
lullaby tho' baby's gonethe cradle rocks a barren songshe's rocking w/her ribbons onshe's rocking yarn and needles ohit's long coming from algiers
Why am I trying to do this, to give words to vision and beauty as epic as Patti Smith's? I give up. She can speak for herself.
Toads? Listen, look, read, write what comes. Can't wait to read what you write.
good morning, Toads! i hope Patti Smith inspires.
ReplyDeletei wanted to let you all know that because of work, i'll be mostly offline from now until saturday afternoon. but i'll be back then to read what you've written and to post something of my own. happy friday!
Patti is ammazing and so is the above poem! thanks!
ReplyDeleteI haven't listened to Patti before. Thanks for posting this. Sounds great to me.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but feel I've left something out, Marian, but this is as good as I get on a Friday morning with a headache left over from yesterday yet.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice of artist for the musical prompt. I hope you get to talk to Patti, so you can tell the Toads about her.
K
jennifaye has not written for this prompt, but linked a random poem... all very dubious.
ReplyDeleteI love Patti! Great idea for a prompt. Of course, I spent all morning listening to her music and reading her lyrics instead of writing myself!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found the info on the blog button useful! This was really a challenge. Loved learning about Patti.
ReplyDeleteMine is up. Patti Smith always puts me right back to a certain time in my life.
ReplyDeleteI'm doin' the Watuzi too
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prompt. It is always great to be inspired by music
ReplyDeleteyay! i'm so pleased to come home to a pile of poems here. off to read! i wrote mine on the train, seemed appropriate :)
ReplyDeleteLate to the party, but I am here.
ReplyDelete