longing for discourse with a gone procession of smoking caterpillars

patti smith is a true badass.

the heart-gripping kind.

i'm reading her book right now, that i mentioned here. Just Kids.

darin read it first... and usually i am not really drawn to what i consider rock-n-roll history.

but he emphatically declared that i must read it and so i picked it up after i finished Blood Meridian.

by the first paragraph i was hooked.

...this book is so far beyond rock n roll;

it is art, passion, love, poetry, fates, tarot, magic, dreams.

and it is a lot about how she met robert mapplethorpe; the story two soul mates, and their adventures, and their blue star, their caring, their hunger, and the way they grew together as artists.

it is the spiritual journey that i seek with my own friends and family: i want to devote our lives to creation and creativity; to attempt to live that devotion daily.

i love reading patti's writing because she is a poet.

she knows all the great films; she relates life to artists and to characters and to snippets of poetry.

she channels characters from books in a way that is near and dear to me:

"I was wearing a long rayon navy dress with white polka dots and a straw hat, my East of Eden outfit."

"The Chelsea was like a doll's house in the Twilight Zone, with a hundred rooms, each a small universe."

i've never really been drawn to the romanticized version of new york life, even when the times were a-changin.

reading about patti and robert living in the chelsea hotel, oh man, my heart is exploding.

she writes, "So many had written, conversed, and convulsed in these Victorian dollhouse rooms....I sniffed out their spirits as I silently scurried from floor to floor, longing for discourse with a gone procession of smoking caterpillars."

she and robert make jewelry with feathers and wooden beads and tiny skulls, raiding fishing shops and secondhand stores for bits and knickknacks to inspire their work. she writes poetry, he creates collages from dirty men's magazines. they paint, they shape sculptures from chicken wire, she draws portraits of portraits, they discuss the benefits of polaroid film...

they make up word games and eat in cheap diners and discuss art day and night.

and all this before i even get to the part where she becomes a pivotal punkrock chick!

i am not really sure my point; i guess it's this:

i love patti smith

i love reading,

art is the way

magic exists in creation

and finally i am not ashamed to love outfits because patti did too and

it's all part of this great appreciation of style, artistic endeavor, creativity, expression, passion, characters, and inspiration. it's all related. we create our personaes, we make up who we want to be and for a minute or a day, or years, we become it.

true to ourselves with great confidence and humor and love.