PAGE FOUR; FEATURE

Somewhere over the Rimbaud there is a group of French symbolist poets hugging themselves with glee. For few schools of poetry have had such a broad and pervasive impact on culture as the symbolists. Although many poets and poems have made a significant mark upon society, poetry has come be regarded as an arty-farty writing form that has little to say to the man in the street. The French symbolists are, however, an exception to this rule. Their influence has been far reaching because their energy lives on in the writings of their 20th century heirs, the singer/songwriters. Where would Dylan, Springsteen, Jim Morrison and so many others be without the influence of the French symbolists? And, indeed, where would the French symbolists be without Bobby, Bruce and the rest? For it is the singers/songwriters who have brought the poetry of the symbolists up to date and made it acceptable to just about everyone. Although they are seen primarily as musicians, the 20th century troubadors are the New Symbolists walking in the footsteps of their mentors.
....None more so than Patti Smith. Ever an outsider, Patti Smith's career began in New York in the late sixties where she shrugged off her New Jersey upbringing and took on the mantle of avant gardist, street activist, eccentric, bohemian and artist. For several years she lived and worked with the outrageous gay photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. Living a close to the edge life that created a suitably dissipated persona, Patti and Robert were well-known faces at many of NY’s hippest hang-outs, moving on the edges of the influential Warhol set. Writing all the time, she performed as an actress opposite Sam Shepherd in a jointly authored off-Broadway play, produced reviews and articles for rock magazines and did constant readings, often with musical accompani-ment. Living at the notorious Chelsea Hotel, immortalised as the place where Dylan came off smack and where Johnny Rotten and Nancy Spungeon sang the last verses of their death song, she was a central figure in NY’s hip scene. Encouraged by Dylan mentor, Bobby Neuwirth, and by Dylan himself she took major steps towards a musical career as she placed her poetry into a more congenial context.
....Before too long she was gigging across country and in 1975 got a recording contract from Arista records. Although her first album -- Horses -- didn’t set the musical world afire, it did make a strong impression and gave her a sufficiently large following to allow for a US and European tour. It would not be until her thrid album -- Easter -- that she would receive the acclaim that was clearly on the way. Produced during a year of convalesence after falling off stage and breaking her neck while surreptiously mastur-bating as she performed (see, we told you she was an eccentric,) Easter gave her a first top 20 hit with a song co-written with Bruce Springsteen. A frequent visitor to Europe, she became one of the early icons of the punk and post-punk movements.
....After that there was no looking back. In 1979 she produced one of her most powerful albums, Waves. The album was dominated by the new love of her life, Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, ex-MC5 guitarist. Her days on the road were nearly over. In late 1979, she retired the band with a concert in Florence, Italy, before a crowd of 70,000 and, in March 1980, married Fred.
....Tucked away in a quiet Detroit suburb with Fred and their two children, Patti’s creative fires continued to burn. In 1988 she released, with her husband, a new album revealing a slightly softer side of her personality. Containing some of her strongest work, including the beautiful and stirring ‘People Have the Power,’ the Dream of Life album was a one off. But Patti continued to write, producing a number of books of poetry, part of a novel and, together with her husband, a number of songs. Their aim of putting together another album in the summer of 1995 was thwarted when, in November 1994, Fred Smith died of heart failure. Although her grief was immense, like so many artists before her, she fell back on her work and, in mid-1995, was in the Electric Lady studios producing a new album.
....Gone Again is another album strongly influence by Fred Smith but this time by his death and Patti’s extraordinary grief. In a meandering meditation on life, mortality and our place in the Cosmos, Patti Smith joins such spiritual icons as Allen Ginsberg in a series of almost ecstatic poetic prayers.
....Able to throw herself into writing, recording and perfoming and thus stave off her loss, Patti continued with her career. Her writing, always a joy of fluidity and rhythm, continues and matures and her peformances provide audiences with a passionate evocation of the joy of living and of the power of the word.