We seek to stay present, even as the ghosts attempt to draw us away (Patti Smith)

Dear Patti

My Jewels For The Thirsty blog recently concerned itself with the huge numbers of celebrity deaths so far in 2016.

I'm currently reading M Train - superb it is too. I need to slow myself down while reading it (the Raban book mentioned in a previous post was not to my taste - pompous and bloated prose is not my style).

But with M Train, every page is a little reward. It will soon be finding its own place on my bookshelf alongside Ha! Ha! Houdini!, Babel, The Coral Sea, The Night, Seventh Heaven, Witt, and Just Kids.

It's so good I even dug out an old copy of Giant Steps to accompany Mu and tried a black coffee in your honour (hmmm - that didn't go so well - thanks to my parents, I'm a tea drinker).

Anyway, while reading it and doing that Jewels post I reflected on celebrities I will be devastated to lose in the future.

Crosby, Paul, Joni, Ringo, Grace, Young and you.

All are still living vital lives on Planet Earth and knowing they are alive somewhere at the same time as I am sustains me. 

You head the list though. Not only for your music but your words, your intellect, your knowledge, your sensibilities and your consciousness make my presence on Earth a continual joy. I think we sometimes forget how lucky we are to have you with us, alive and well. So...thanks.

I can't imagine a world without you in it!

Love and peace Patti - WNP

We want things we cannot have (Patti Smith)

DMP 23 April 1930 - 4 November 1983

We want things we cannot have. We seek to reclaim a certain moment, sound, sensation. I want to hear my mother's voice. I want to see my children as children. Hands small, feet swift. Everything changes. Boy grown, father dead, daughter taller than me, weeping from a bad dream. Please stay forever, I say to the things I know. Don't go. Don't grow - Patti Smith (M Train, page 209).

Love - WNP