Patti Dans Le Bibliotheque
I returned to Mills college one week
after the opening of Root Connection
to the Rare Book Room
its trove of Patti's printed matter arrayed
1.
Approach and Arrival
Waiting uptown for the NL
takes you right to Mills college
A fun ride along MacArthur
to Fruitvale and into the Oakland hills,
Perhaps I'll encounter Patti followers
I might as well take a flying leap
at a rolling doughnut
Beautiful trees along the central route
Today's the last day of Summer
The very venerable Music department
The miracle of universal focus
The ancients watch over us
I once heard and spoke
to Leon Theremin in this place,
He demonstrated his electronic instrument
to Vladimir Lenin
He seemed even older
than this cat
Cleaning leaves from the campus pond
a very fastidious campus
with a lot of leaves
Center of campus
between the academic departments
and the residential sector.
lock on a a figurative chastity belt
Olin library.
is located just here
By the greensward
and the dormitory moat
Poster for this half
of the Exhibition
of the Exhibition
Beat generation figurine
gone through Velvet Doors
punk rock sweetheart
Patti came prepared
Ready for her close-up
Her first book of poetry
Never had this one but the text
was reprinted in other early collections
Early bookshop reading
from Seventh Heaven
Translations of her tough little book
Seventh Heaven
Foreign editions of WITT
her second well-distributed volume
The Night
a Symbolist collaboration
with Tom Verlaine
I had my tan copy signed by them
meant sending backstage to Tom
at a Television show in Boston
always risky
Translation
French translation
on the left
I never had this one either
But in 1978 in Providence RI
Patti performed an auto-erotic act on stage
Impishly I wiggled my tongue at her,
later she signed my copy of WITT
"tongue of love"
Poet and Martyr
of Radio Ethiopia
fm
2.
The Inner Sanctum
At the head of her class
Serious student for life
Teacher's pet?
Well, she earned some
honorary grades here
Frankly a bit of a empty museum vibe
rather than working rare book research,
It was not as open as the museum was
The accordion player
now steps to the road
wonders who sounded
the alarm
Patti blasting off
Homage to the Dalai Lama
A display of various
Patti Smith broadsheets
A poster print
of a drawing typical of
Patti's unique manner
Patti's benediction
on outlaw writer
William S. Burroughs
illustrated with his drawing
made with gunpowder and ink
Not a bust of Bill but
quite a classy room
for our Lady of CBGBs
3.
Legacy
it's a gas gas gas
She was always working
always thinking
Her survival and success
is somehow ours too
Her many books are celebrated
editions issued throughout the world
(that blue Russian cover's an odd one)
Art books of her photographs
make coffee tables groan
Her words published
as adorable keepsakes
She even got to write the introduction
for a reissue of New Directions classic
translation of Rimbaud's A Season in Hell
its cover reproducing Lustig's
dust jacket design from
the vintage cloth-bound copies
(now I am envious)
(I recall my poetry professor, friend
and fellow Rimbaldian James Tate saying,
I guess we can't have Rimbaud anymore
now that Patti Smith owns him
no shortages when it comes to envy)
Patti's old Rimbaud T-shirt
Patti appears as a peer
with her inspirations and mentors
She undeniably has joined
the Roll Call herself
Turning to Alchemy,
as Richard Lloyd sang
in our shared youth
A votive candle
for Saint Patti,
once I would have
wanted one myself
Her recognition is indelible
the dogs lose their bark
She sweeps ever on
Patti playing the harmonica,
la petite noire
The platonic PhD at 40
Oil painting of a Mills graduate
along side Root Connection
Time for me to get airborne
Back by the music department,
Laurie Anderson studied here
Tomorrow will be
the first day of Fall
Mills undergraduates
on their way to
traditional degrees,
with a dash of Patti Smith
A singular dignity
At some point
all of us must
empty out our bookshelves
as a form of liberation
21 September 2016
Poetry and noise:
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