Poet Patti Smith Talks About Her Work Being Censored in a Lost 1976 Interview

In the latest episode of the animated lost interview series “Blank on Blank“, the wonderfully verbose poet Patti Smith opened up about her feelings about being censored, putting music to her words and her first encounter with poet Arthur Rimbaud. The interview was conducted by Mick Gold in 1976 at the Portobello Hotel in London.

Well, my first meeting with Rimbaud was when I was sixteen. So I went to this bookstore. I saw this book, it was Illuminations, the one with Rimbaud’s picture on the cover. You know the famous one? I looked at that guy and he was so cool looking, sort of reminded me of my father, looked a little like Dylan. In fact a lot like Dylan, and I thought, “God is he cool.” He had long hair. I always hated when guys wore short hair, I hated that. I didn’t know nothing about poetry, I thought poets were weirdos.