Most beautiful “to the reader” ever

Last time Patti Smith came through town, she was in her rock star mode, and put on an un-freaking-believable show at the Ventura Theater, chatting with fans in line, going on to play all her hits, her clarinet, a Blue Oyster Song, and just generally being a totally giving person and sweetheart.

At one point she told a little story about walking around downtown, enjoying Ventura, and discovering that a bird had shat on her shoulder. She laughed it off. Told us:

You have a really nice town here. Hope you can keep it.

This week she won the National Book Award for her memoir of being a young artist in New York in love. Haven't had a chance to read Just Kids yet, but at her show she also had on sale copies of her poetic tribute to her past lover Robert Mapplethorpe, The Coral Sea, a collection of prose poems she wote as reflections, set off by his beautifully composed but unsettling black-and-white photographs.

It's a book as gorgeous as a dream you don't want to forget, elusive in its plot, but memorable in its mood, tributary and longing. It's about her late friend Robert Mapplethorpe, who was also the subject of her memoir. And it's got the most beautiful "to the reader" little sort of foreward I've ever read.

The first time I saw Robert he was sleeping. I stood over him, this boy of twenty, who sensing my presence opened his eyes and smiled. With few words he became my friend, my compeer, my beloved adventure.

When he became ill I wept and could not stop weeping. He scolded me for that, not with words but with a simple look of reproach, and I ceased.

When I saw him last we sat in silence and he rested his head on my shoulder. I watched the light changing over his hands, over his work, and over the whole of our lives. Later, returning to his bed, we said goodbye. But as I was leaving something stopped me and I went back to his room. He was sleeping. I stood over him, a dying man, who sensing my presence opened his yes and smiled.

When he passed away I could not weep so I wrote. Then I took the pages and set them away. Here are those pages, my farewell to my friend, my adventure, my unfettered joy.

Thank you. Patti Smith, for trusting us with the whole story.