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Early Work 1970-1979
The poet, songwriter, and performer evokes the experimentation and longing of the pre-punk days in a collection of poems and prose
177 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Patti Smith
165 books14.5k followersPATTI SMITH is a writer, performer, and visual artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her revolutionary merging of poetry and rock. She has released twelve albums, including Horses, which has been hailed as one of the top one hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone.
Smith had her first exhibit of drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and has been represented by the Robert Miller Gallery since 1978. Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, Wītt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, and Auguries of Innocence.
In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, the highest honor given to an artist by the French Republic. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Smith married the musician Fred Sonic Smith in Detroit in 1980. They had a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Jesse. Smith resides in New York City.
Smith had her first exhibit of drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and has been represented by the Robert Miller Gallery since 1978. Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, Wītt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, and Auguries of Innocence.
In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, the highest honor given to an artist by the French Republic. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Smith married the musician Fred Sonic Smith in Detroit in 1980. They had a son, Jackson, and a daughter, Jesse. Smith resides in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
November 22, 2022
I found
I found in this collection of early work raw power.
I found intensity.
I found flashes of brilliant imagery.
I found energy and desire.
I found a few poems that sang of work to come.
I found many poems stillborn and lifeless.
I found no great poems, only great promise.
I found in this collection of early work raw power.
I found intensity.
I found flashes of brilliant imagery.
I found energy and desire.
I found a few poems that sang of work to come.
I found many poems stillborn and lifeless.
I found no great poems, only great promise.
September 6, 2007
Her words changed my life.
October 15, 2020
My students were surprised to discover that Patti Smith is a poet. I was thrilled that they new who she was.
January 28, 2020
The really fascinating thing about this collection is that a good chunk of these poems are a bit crap - and that's without mentioning the use of racist streotypes that Smith employs on occasion.
The other thing that's interesting (at least to a Smith obsessive like myself) is the way that poems and phrases from these early works would turn up in songs up to 20 years later: early versions of what would become Land, Fire of Unknown Origin, Wave and Wing are here, even if all that was kept was a couple of lines.
The other thing that's interesting (at least to a Smith obsessive like myself) is the way that poems and phrases from these early works would turn up in songs up to 20 years later: early versions of what would become Land, Fire of Unknown Origin, Wave and Wing are here, even if all that was kept was a couple of lines.
September 25, 2009
Hands down the most inspiring book of poetry I have ever read. This collection changed my life. Simply put, perfect. I love everything about this book.
June 21, 2022
to be honest i only read about half of this. but i count that as “read” since it’s a book of poetry. three stars because it was good, but as much as i try, im really just not a poetry girl, no matter how much i loved Just Kids and listening to Because the Night on repeat. agh.
February 24, 2023
For this review, I will use the same word I use to describe Patti Smith: raw.
January 15, 2024
there’s some great stuff in here. you just have to filter through all the bad. i also don’t feel comfortable giving a poetry book with this many slurs written in the 80’s a higher rating…
May 3, 2025
all praise to the high priestess of rock n roll
(maybe not an actual 5 not all the poems were that good but it’s a personal favourite)
(maybe not an actual 5 not all the poems were that good but it’s a personal favourite)
June 27, 2024
Chop! The presentation gives it a 2 star. Complete beat nonsense prose poems and just punk to the point of being offensive and crass. Now I know what it means to shit Voltaire style I guess? If that is even a thing.
February 26, 2017
look at this land where we am. lost souls. failed moon over the carnival. deserted. there is no twilight on this island. night falls like a final curtain. how shakespearean. carnival of fools. of the seduced and the discarded. the tricked ones. the skinned ethopian. sleeping through the whole thing. the leopard rolling over. all but blushing with the discovery of his sleek coat sans spot.
May 6, 2024
I got something to hide here called desire I got something to hide here called desire.
December 30, 2023
Really conflicted about this one. It was so interesting to see her evolve as a poet, moving from poems that felt like beat poetry to almost-prose like passages. I found the beginning sort of clumsy (might have been better read aloud?), really enjoyed the middle bit for how evocative and messy it was and then she lost me at the end again when she attempted a longer prose-poem-story thing that got a bit triggering. It's definitely a product of its time, as it's full of words she really shouldn't be using. Also TW rape, especially at the end.
December 20, 2023
What am I going to read every day now 😭? Read it little by little because I wanted to save it like one saves their favorite perfume.
A near perfect collection of poetry and musings collected over the years. Definitely in my list of "favorite books by Patti Smith".
A near perfect collection of poetry and musings collected over the years. Definitely in my list of "favorite books by Patti Smith".
February 27, 2022
A few gems tucked into Patti Smith's earlier days as a writer; my personal favorite is "babelfield (version).
June 5, 2026
The first of Patti Smith’s poetic work I’ve encountered, this was a fascinating collection that feels both intimate and erratic, a portrait of an artist discovering herself and her craft. I felt like this is a collection that resists containment while also charting the evolution of Smith learning how to inhabit her artistic voice. What struck me most was how clearly you can trace the shift in Smith’s poetic sensibility over time, her earliest poems feel reflective of her semi-religious upbringing and the language, structure and imagery are akin to children’s nursery rhymes and psalms. As she moves away from this both figuratively and literally and discovers her own unique inspirations her poems in the middle of the collection often feel raw, volatile, and at times deliberately abrasive, while some the later pieces soften into something more lyrical and contemplative whilst others are definitely more consistent with the punk movement and at times feel like a jarring and abstract read. The tension between provocation and beauty runs through the collection and gives it its distinct pulse.
For me, reading it after her memoirs adds another layer entirely, there’s something fascinating about recognising fragments of her life and influences, and then seeing how they transform into something stranger, more abstract and less grounded on the page. Although, admittedly Patti Smith's work isn't my typical chosen genre and her style of poetry isn't something I usually gravitate towards I was curious to read her work after reading a few of her memoirs which were a dazzling and poetic read themselves. Her prose and memoir writing is a lot different to her poetry which was really interesting to discover and surprisingly I actually really liked a few poems in the collection.
One of the standout early poems for me was ‘Oath’, particularly for its subversion of Catholic imagery. Smith repeatedly returns to religious iconography throughout the collection, but rarely in a straightforward or reverent way. Instead, she seems intent on destabilising it, collapsing the sacred into the profane, reverence into defiance. This approach carries through the book, though it becomes more refined in the later works, where the imagery feels less jagged and more deliberately woven into the emotional landscape of the poems. In contrast, poems like ‘Burning Roses’, ‘Wing’, and ‘True Music’ from her later years stood out to me for their softness, they’re still deeply expressive, but they feel more spacious, more assured, and undeniably beautiful in a way that feels unpredictable for Patti Smith given the rebellious and punk nature of her larger body of work.
The structure of the book itself reinforces this sense of growth. It’s genuinely interesting to see how her form, imagery, and influences shift across the decade, reflecting not just artistic development but also the changing social and cultural landscape she was writing in. Her work feels porous, absorbing political and artistic currents and reflecting them back in unpredictable ways. Sometimes that results in something luminous and lyrical, other times, it leads to moments that are deliberately crude, jarring, and often feel confrontational. That unpredictability is part of the appeal, there’s a refusal to settle, but in my opinion it also means not every piece resonates equally.
What I also loved were the more personal elements surrounding the poems. Her letter to the reader in the beginning feels generous and grounding, offering a glimpse of the voice behind the work, it felt closer to her memoir writings and her thoughtful dedications add small but meaningful layers of intimacy. They remind you that even at its most experimental, this is work rooted in relationships, artistic communities, and lived experiences.
At the same time, Early Work isn’t without its complications, and to me it feels important to acknowledge them, I honestly wish more people would since it feels like some of the more problematic elements of Smith’s work are glossed over by her following. I felt like some of Smith’s poetic and linguistic choices can come across as culturally appropriative or insensitive, even deliberately offensive at times, occasionally romanticising or borrowing from experiences and identities that aren’t her own. Her writing deliberately destabilises boundaries between homage and appropriation, reverence and transgression, high and low culture and while that is central to its power, it also demands careful, critical reading. Her deep admiration for Black musical traditions is clearly foundational to her artistic identity, yet there are moments where those influences risk being flattened into aesthetic gestures rather than fully acknowledged as complex cultural histories. The punk ethos of transgression doesn’t negate these concerns, if anything, it heightens them, asking us to consider what those transgressions do and who they affect.
This tension becomes even more interesting when considered alongside the feminist and anti-establishment currents in her work. Smith’s influence and her ground-breaking artistic rebellion undeniably altered the course of artistic expression for female creators in an era where contemporary female made art that subverted the traditionally feminine was gaining traction and better recognition, (yet still came under much scrutiny and garnered a lot of misogynist critique). Smith often centres on her position as a woman pushing against restrictive norms, but that doesn’t necessarily resolve or excuse the complexities of her engagement with other identities and cultural forms. Instead, it complicates the reading experience, making it both richer and more uncomfortable in equal measure.
Ultimately, reading Early Work felt like encountering a budding artist in motion, in this anthology Patti Smith is restless, searching, and unwilling to compromise. Not every poem lands, and some moments definitely deserve critique, particularly in terms of language and cultural sensitivity. But there is also undeniable brilliance here, she incorporates moments of startling beauty, emotional clarity, and formal daring that justify its place in her expansive body of work. Paired with her prose and memoirs, which feel so different in tone and texture, the collection offers a fuller sense of her creative process. It’s messy, provocative, sometimes flawed, but consistently compelling, and that complexity is what makes it worth reading. Would definitely recommend! :)
For me, reading it after her memoirs adds another layer entirely, there’s something fascinating about recognising fragments of her life and influences, and then seeing how they transform into something stranger, more abstract and less grounded on the page. Although, admittedly Patti Smith's work isn't my typical chosen genre and her style of poetry isn't something I usually gravitate towards I was curious to read her work after reading a few of her memoirs which were a dazzling and poetic read themselves. Her prose and memoir writing is a lot different to her poetry which was really interesting to discover and surprisingly I actually really liked a few poems in the collection.
One of the standout early poems for me was ‘Oath’, particularly for its subversion of Catholic imagery. Smith repeatedly returns to religious iconography throughout the collection, but rarely in a straightforward or reverent way. Instead, she seems intent on destabilising it, collapsing the sacred into the profane, reverence into defiance. This approach carries through the book, though it becomes more refined in the later works, where the imagery feels less jagged and more deliberately woven into the emotional landscape of the poems. In contrast, poems like ‘Burning Roses’, ‘Wing’, and ‘True Music’ from her later years stood out to me for their softness, they’re still deeply expressive, but they feel more spacious, more assured, and undeniably beautiful in a way that feels unpredictable for Patti Smith given the rebellious and punk nature of her larger body of work.
The structure of the book itself reinforces this sense of growth. It’s genuinely interesting to see how her form, imagery, and influences shift across the decade, reflecting not just artistic development but also the changing social and cultural landscape she was writing in. Her work feels porous, absorbing political and artistic currents and reflecting them back in unpredictable ways. Sometimes that results in something luminous and lyrical, other times, it leads to moments that are deliberately crude, jarring, and often feel confrontational. That unpredictability is part of the appeal, there’s a refusal to settle, but in my opinion it also means not every piece resonates equally.
What I also loved were the more personal elements surrounding the poems. Her letter to the reader in the beginning feels generous and grounding, offering a glimpse of the voice behind the work, it felt closer to her memoir writings and her thoughtful dedications add small but meaningful layers of intimacy. They remind you that even at its most experimental, this is work rooted in relationships, artistic communities, and lived experiences.
At the same time, Early Work isn’t without its complications, and to me it feels important to acknowledge them, I honestly wish more people would since it feels like some of the more problematic elements of Smith’s work are glossed over by her following. I felt like some of Smith’s poetic and linguistic choices can come across as culturally appropriative or insensitive, even deliberately offensive at times, occasionally romanticising or borrowing from experiences and identities that aren’t her own. Her writing deliberately destabilises boundaries between homage and appropriation, reverence and transgression, high and low culture and while that is central to its power, it also demands careful, critical reading. Her deep admiration for Black musical traditions is clearly foundational to her artistic identity, yet there are moments where those influences risk being flattened into aesthetic gestures rather than fully acknowledged as complex cultural histories. The punk ethos of transgression doesn’t negate these concerns, if anything, it heightens them, asking us to consider what those transgressions do and who they affect.
This tension becomes even more interesting when considered alongside the feminist and anti-establishment currents in her work. Smith’s influence and her ground-breaking artistic rebellion undeniably altered the course of artistic expression for female creators in an era where contemporary female made art that subverted the traditionally feminine was gaining traction and better recognition, (yet still came under much scrutiny and garnered a lot of misogynist critique). Smith often centres on her position as a woman pushing against restrictive norms, but that doesn’t necessarily resolve or excuse the complexities of her engagement with other identities and cultural forms. Instead, it complicates the reading experience, making it both richer and more uncomfortable in equal measure.
Ultimately, reading Early Work felt like encountering a budding artist in motion, in this anthology Patti Smith is restless, searching, and unwilling to compromise. Not every poem lands, and some moments definitely deserve critique, particularly in terms of language and cultural sensitivity. But there is also undeniable brilliance here, she incorporates moments of startling beauty, emotional clarity, and formal daring that justify its place in her expansive body of work. Paired with her prose and memoirs, which feel so different in tone and texture, the collection offers a fuller sense of her creative process. It’s messy, provocative, sometimes flawed, but consistently compelling, and that complexity is what makes it worth reading. Would definitely recommend! :)
October 2, 2014
"A very private dick
Sniff Sniff beagle brain
Your bush needs clipping
your mouth needs kissing"
Patti Smith always writes with such deep emotion and it hits your soul. Love everything she does. Total icon.
Sniff Sniff beagle brain
Your bush needs clipping
your mouth needs kissing"
Patti Smith always writes with such deep emotion and it hits your soul. Love everything she does. Total icon.
February 25, 2014
Poetry wise a bit more miss than hit for me but the insight into Smith's world is fantastic from her writing. Again more one for reading out loud to get that rhythm and sense of emotion.
June 9, 2016
Dissertation research
November 25, 2019
It's Patti Smith.
Read
December 25, 2024An interesting book witnessing Patti Smith in formation with her poetry. I particularly enjoy her rhapsodizing about music such as: "the note of nobility can go on forever. I never tire of the solitary E and I trust my guitar and don't care about anything." Well put. I would feel most guitarists feel that way. Her beatnik racism can get a bit tiring about idealizing Black people and seeing them as abstract inspiration for white poets, not unlike what Norman Mailer wrote about in his essay, "The White Negro," and Kerouac wrote about in his worst moments like in *Dharma Bums*. She is heavily indebted to the style of Rimbaud, but we start seeing the forming of her own cadences and imagery. What I appreciate most of all is that she is open to everything at this moment: making poetry from tour notes, incanting over a posthumous Jim Morrison album, meditating over Georgia O'Keeffe.
The book is not her best or most consistent writing, but it is interesting seeing it develop and see what poems start getting reconfigured into song lyrics. I would say this is a book for a deep Patti Smith fan, not for people just getting into her. *Just Kids* is the most user-friendly of her writing. *The Year of the Monkey*, I think, is her most ecstatic.
The book is not her best or most consistent writing, but it is interesting seeing it develop and see what poems start getting reconfigured into song lyrics. I would say this is a book for a deep Patti Smith fan, not for people just getting into her. *Just Kids* is the most user-friendly of her writing. *The Year of the Monkey*, I think, is her most ecstatic.
February 13, 2026
« un risque n'est rien qu'un risque. »
« Seize ans et temps de régler mes dettes j'ai trouvé ce boulot dans une usine de merde à inspecter des tuyaux
Quarante heures trente-six dollars par semaine mais c'est un chèque, mec. Il fait si chaud ici aussi chaud qu'au sahara il y a de quoi s'évanouir dans cette chaleur mais ces pouffiasses sont tout simplement trop nulles pour comprendre trop foutrement reconnaissantes d'avoir ce boulot pour savoir qu'elles se font enculer.
Toutes ces femmes n'ont ni dents ni gencives dans le crâne Et la façon dont elles suçotent des saucisses chaudes mais moi bon je ne disais pas grand-chose non plus j'étais une écolière moraliste une connasse travaillant dur Je m'imaginais que j'étais une moto lancée à fond fallait que je gagne mon blé fallait que je gagne mon blé.
Mais non il faut créer des rapports, d'accord, il faut trouver le rythme intérieur. Le contremaître se glisse à côte de moi et dit « Hé nénette, tu vas trop vite. Tu bousilles les quotas. Tu fais ton boulot trop vite. Descends de ton mustang Sally, tu vas nulle part, tu vas nulle part
…
je vais être une grosse vedette et je ne reviendrai jamais ne reviendrai jamais non ne reviendrai jamais pour griller dans cette usine de Merde.
Et je voyagerai sans bagages.
Oh regardez-moi bien. »
« Seize ans et temps de régler mes dettes j'ai trouvé ce boulot dans une usine de merde à inspecter des tuyaux
Quarante heures trente-six dollars par semaine mais c'est un chèque, mec. Il fait si chaud ici aussi chaud qu'au sahara il y a de quoi s'évanouir dans cette chaleur mais ces pouffiasses sont tout simplement trop nulles pour comprendre trop foutrement reconnaissantes d'avoir ce boulot pour savoir qu'elles se font enculer.
Toutes ces femmes n'ont ni dents ni gencives dans le crâne Et la façon dont elles suçotent des saucisses chaudes mais moi bon je ne disais pas grand-chose non plus j'étais une écolière moraliste une connasse travaillant dur Je m'imaginais que j'étais une moto lancée à fond fallait que je gagne mon blé fallait que je gagne mon blé.
Mais non il faut créer des rapports, d'accord, il faut trouver le rythme intérieur. Le contremaître se glisse à côte de moi et dit « Hé nénette, tu vas trop vite. Tu bousilles les quotas. Tu fais ton boulot trop vite. Descends de ton mustang Sally, tu vas nulle part, tu vas nulle part
…
je vais être une grosse vedette et je ne reviendrai jamais ne reviendrai jamais non ne reviendrai jamais pour griller dans cette usine de Merde.
Et je voyagerai sans bagages.
Oh regardez-moi bien. »
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2025
“Time is expressed / in the heart / of an instrument / Something that stops / in the heart of a man / Time is the wall and the space around / Time is the tree a life that resounds.” In Patti Smith’s Early Work: 1970 — 1979, prose and poem works from her earliest publications (Seventh Heaven, Ha! Ha! Houdini!, Witt, and Babel) are collated in chronological order, showing a decade of development as Smith’s style solidifies into what we all know and love today. It’s brash + punk, full of longing, restlessness, verve; always pushing at its own edges, sure that the limits are always surpassable. “i haven’t fucked w/ the past but i’ve fucked plenty w/the future.” A fitting final book for 2020.
March 17, 2019
Rounding up from 3.5
This wasn't the greatest start for me, but I got more into it as it went on, and by the end was thoroughly enjoying it. There's no denying that Patti Smith is a genius with words, even though some didn't resonate with me. It was also interesting to read this right after finishing Just Kids, as I tried to align the poetry and prose in this book with what was going on in her life at the time. Some things were much more obvious (e.g., Jim Morrison's death) than others, but the context from Just Kids was helpful.
Worth reading, for sure.
This wasn't the greatest start for me, but I got more into it as it went on, and by the end was thoroughly enjoying it. There's no denying that Patti Smith is a genius with words, even though some didn't resonate with me. It was also interesting to read this right after finishing Just Kids, as I tried to align the poetry and prose in this book with what was going on in her life at the time. Some things were much more obvious (e.g., Jim Morrison's death) than others, but the context from Just Kids was helpful.
Worth reading, for sure.
November 9, 2024
Patti's poem 'Grant' about her Dad was my favourite from this collection. I really love how she writes, even if her ideas are a little abstract at times.
The edgy punk poems kind of give me a bit of a giggle at times. Just becuase I can imagine some of the art students I know saying similar things to what Patti writes about as a young woman.
I love her poems about art, artists and I love seeing little echoes of the people in her life in her poetry after reading all of her memoirs. Maybe this is my sign to reread Just Kids hahaha
The edgy punk poems kind of give me a bit of a giggle at times. Just becuase I can imagine some of the art students I know saying similar things to what Patti writes about as a young woman.
I love her poems about art, artists and I love seeing little echoes of the people in her life in her poetry after reading all of her memoirs. Maybe this is my sign to reread Just Kids hahaha
March 5, 2021
Having read Just Kids and M Train in recent years has me on a Patti Smith kick. Reread this about 30 years after the first time and enjoyed it much more, as age & experience lends a deeper understanding to the archetypal subject matters she was exploring. Smith was born an old soul and has always had a deep understanding of life as well as death which she weaves into mythological writing. Recommended!
December 24, 2021
Love her music. Her poetry can be very hit and miss for me. Much of this collection is culled from her notebooks at the time and it really shows. Some of it is very good, but some of it feels like unfinished sketches, probably not originally meant for publication. Worth the read if you’re a Patti Smith completist, just listen to Horses if you’re not.
November 3, 2018
I used this title because they did not have Patti Smith at the Minette Lane.
So all my review and stars are regarding Minette Lane.
Excellent! A bit of song and story all live and still relevant, from love to voting!
So all my review and stars are regarding Minette Lane.
Excellent! A bit of song and story all live and still relevant, from love to voting!
September 21, 2022
I absolutely loved this collection of poetry!!
To me it is perfect and it truly touched me.
That being said, there are some words in this collection that are dated and/or triggering.
I had to read up on why she chose to use some of the words.
To me it is perfect and it truly touched me.
That being said, there are some words in this collection that are dated and/or triggering.
I had to read up on why she chose to use some of the words.
August 23, 2023
This book holds some of my favorite poems of all time, but the book overall is a little hit or miss for me. Lots of times where I had to just push through reading it. The goods are incredible though! “Oh Billy Dancer I need a good lover
And you sure look good to me.”
And you sure look good to me.”
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews