Al Filreis
The revolutionist stops for orangeade
photo credit: Lawrence Schwartzwald/Splashnews
Yes, here's Patti Smith reading the recent Cambridge Companion to Wallace Stevens. The photograph was taken by Lawrence Schwartzwald, who just happened to see this and marvel at the apt juxtaposition.
I've got an essay in that collection, right around where Patti has the book opened. I like to think she's reading me.
There aren't a lot of Stevensean lines in Patti Smith — nor his tone or sensibility (to be sure!) — but I am thinking of these:
"The boy was in the hallway drinking a glass of tea ..."
"There's a little place, a place called space ..."
"... undulating in the lewd impostered night ..."
Courtesy John Serio. The title of this entry is that of an early poem by Stevens.