Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith

“If I thought that even in a small way somebody might treasure my work,” she said. “it really makes me happy. To inspire people is the best thing you can do. it was the best thing people did for me.”

When she and Lenny first started out, the poetry was rock and roll and the rock and roll was poetry and she set us all on fire.

“Paths that cross will cross again”

Patti Smith is not only a great performer, she is a shaman – mat is. someone in touch with other levels of reality.

Her effect on the audience is electric, comparable to voodoo or umbanda rituals, where the audience members become participants, and are literally lifted out of themselves. In many cases, however, they are destined “to return to ordinary consciousness” – to be once again the single mother of three small children, or to follow the animei goals of the street hustler… but the shaman has, at least, provided a respite.

William S. Burroughs
July 4. 1997.