Me and Patti Smith 18/07/25

I fell upon Patti Smith's poem by accident while scrolling the Internet. Aha! I thought. My search for my book title is over. "Never still.” I love it. I did not send the idea off to friends for comment as I did not want any negative feedback. Click this link to read the poem (and watch the video) in its entirety.

In this poem, I recognize resilience, the drive to move and travel, and the transformative power of physical and imaginative journeys. The continuing coming of age that travel offers.

Aha! I thought again; these are the themes of my book as well.

Patti Smith is 10 years my senior. She wrote a memoir, “Just Kids,” in 2010, 10 years before I started mine.

She grew up in a working-class family in 1950s–60s New Jersey; I did so in 1960s–70s Prince Albert.

Patti and I both had strict religious upbringings; she left Jehovah's Witnesses as a teenager, while I left Catholicism in my forties.

She sang, "Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine." When my dad said, "Monica, we’re not cut from the same cloth." I simply agreed.

I was attracted to unexplored places, free from expectations. Patti picked New York City, where poetry, rock'n'roll, and sexual politics converged and exploded.

Early in her journey, she met Robert Mapplethorpe; they remained close until his death from AIDS. At his request, she wrote “Just Kids” to share their story. Similarly, I penned my memoir “Never Still” to document a time of adventure for myself and my loved ones.

Moral of the story?

Beware the grandma who has Patti Smith on her playlist!