The entire thing is probably too long for a blog post, but at least a portion of this beautiful piece written by Joel Brouwer had to be shared. You can read some of it below or in its entirety at the Poetry Society of America. You can also see this essay and more like it in One Word: Contemporary Writers on the Words They Love or Loathe, an anthology edited by Molly McQuade. Enjoy.

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I’m a Patti Smith geek.  I just finished reading, Just Kids, for the second time this year because I wanted to relive that time in history through her eyes again. If you’re a Robert Mapplethorpe fan, the poems in her newest release were written in remembrance of him. She and Kevin Shields (of My Bloody Valentine) collaborated on a rerelease of her 1996 book of poetry Coral Sea. Patti speaks her words to you in a two-disc set with some pretty rad sound babies included. Check it.