Woolgathering by Patti Smith (1992)

A brief poetic memoir of childhood and creation by the author of Just Kids.

Book Review: Woolgathering has been sadly overlooked. Patti Smith's recent memoirs, Just Kids and M Train have been wonderfully, award winningly successful. Perhaps if this book's cover had been in black and white and muted tones with a shorter title it wouldn't've been mislaid, for Woolgathering is the mother of those books. Here Smith writes of childhood awe, a touchstone of her creativity: "All were remnants of our childhood or some spirited place." She also writes, as she did in Just Kids, of the magic and inner power of things, objects, so many becoming talismans in her eyes ("I always felt it was in the object itself. Some piece of magic that was animated by my touch. In this manner I found magic in all things."). Perhaps it was imagination, perhaps second sight or hallucinations, but as a girl Smith saw things that no one else saw: "They were people like none I had ever seen, in strange archaic cap and dress." She is what I think of as a true artist (some might say "natural"), believing in the strength of her shamanic power, some sacred communication, her faith that the truth comes through her words. Unconcerned whether a line may be cliche or obvious or regarded as trite, for she knew that poetry is blossoming through her. I can't see Smith writing a line and thinking to herself, "Oh, they won't like this." She trusts and is true to herself and hang the rest. These pages are remembrances, often poetry and prose poems, a memoir of moments. Many of the images in Woolgathering are from childhood, others are contemporaneous, and all resonate with Smith's fascination with art, creativity, and expression. Robert Mapplethorpe appears. Her impressions are illustrated with her own photographs. Although extremely short, this book may still seem like a bit of stew, with a mixture of times and characters, song lyrics, poetry, and prose. In describing her own efforts at creation, Patti Smith has the power to stimulate the same feeling in her readers. She describes herself as "a solitary shepherdess gathering bits of wool plucked by the hand of the wind from the belly of a lamb." If you were stirred by Patti Smith's recent memoirs, Woolgathering is worth finding.  [4★]