‘The Night’: Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine’s epic poem
Throughout her life, Patti Smith has been blessed to encounter many collaborators. Perhaps more so than just peers, these are figures that stand as creative soulmates. Her artistic history is intrinsically linked to the history and lives of a series of important partners. These include photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, writer Sam Shephard and her husband, guitarist Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith. Another vital figure was Tom Verlaine as the two collaborated on an epic poem, capturing their love.
It feels wrong to tie Patti Smith’s creative history so tightly to her romantic one, as she in no way needed a helping hand to become the artist she is today. But in her case, they are inseparable in the most beautiful way. As a writer and musician who totally and utterly dedicates her life to her craft, it makes sense that her love life would become linked to her passion for work.
Throughout her life, Smith’s romantic relationships have proven to be endlessly inspiring. Within the comforting and empowering atmosphere of an intimate relationship, Smith was encouraged to expand to new and exciting realms. Mapplethorpe helped her cast off expectations and live fully and boldly as an artist. Fred Smith’s musical influence was insurmountable on her evolution as a recording artist as they worked together. Just as Smith was finding her feet and confidence as a musician, starting to evolve from a spoken word poet into the punk we know her as, she met Tom Verlaine, the Television leader who would help her merge the two.
“You’re Smith,” Verlaine said to her on the corner of East Tenth Street in 1973. Smith doesn’t remember if they’d met before, both starting to buzz around the CBGB scene as the venue opened. But in this one opening remark, the Television musician proved he knew exactly who she was. This small moment is a perfect summation of the relationship; Verlaine made Smith feel like someone. She wasn’t just a person’s girlfriend, or a poet, or a musician. In the space of their relationship, she got to be absolutely everything she was, all at once. As they seemed to stand as mirrors to one another like kindred spirits, both artists were able to see themselves in full glory.
“As I watched Tom play, I thought, had I been a boy, I would’ve been him,” Smith remembered of the first time she saw Television live. Mixing admiration and relatability, the relationship was the perfect ground for powerful collaboration.
That didn’t, however, come in the form of music as you might expect from two blossoming punk leaders. Instead, their offering to the world was more intimate, just like their relationship. “He devoured poetry,” Smith said of Verlaine, “He possessed the child’s gift of transforming a drop of water into a poem that somehow begat music.” As the two came together while Smith was entering his world of music, he entered her world of writing when they collaborated on ‘The Night’ in 1976.
What started as a collaborative writing exercise ended up as an epic poem reminiscent of Smith’s love for Arthur Rimbaud or Allen Ginsberg. The idea was simple. Patti Smith took the odd pages, and Tom Verlaine had the even ones. As they pass the pages back and forth, what comes to life is akin to William Burrough’s cut-up method of writing, crafting something through snippets rather than story. As Smith was especially passionate about stitching together the punk world with the poetic world, this written collaboration with another leading music figure of the era is a vital stitch in the fabric of her world.
On the final page of the book, they describe the poem only as “Part One”, but a second edition never revealed itself. In fact, ‘The Night’ might be the more elusive publication in Patti Smith’s career. Only released through underground publishers in tiny and select printing runs, copies of the poetic pamphlet are near impossible to come by. A relic of an inspiring relationship and a desire to combine their personal talent with the wider worlds of music and poetry, ‘The Night’ is a piece of history whether you can get your hands on it or not.
