Patti Smith: I've never seen a world so driven by power and money'

"They call her the godmother of punk for a reason, and not just because she began her career reciting poetry in churches. Patti Smith, 78, still follows her own profane rituals to the letter and possesses a private, personal symbology objects that may seem banal but, for her, contain emotions and memories, Proust-like in their power to condense time. At the moment of our interview, the artist has just carried out two of these rites."

"I save things that allow me to remember and feel good. A stone I found at the tomb of Osamu Dazai, the copy of Pinocchio I read as a little girl though if I had to pick one thing to keep, it would be my wedding ring, she says, pointing to the simple gold piece of jewelry now hanging around her neck."

Patti Smith, 78, maintains ritualistic habits and values everyday objects as condensed vessels of memory. She visits museums to view Guernica, eats bocadillo de calamares with black coffee, and carries a cherished Rimbaud volume gifted by her Spanish publisher. She keeps postcards, manuscripts by Artaud and Emily Dickinson, a stone from Osamu Dazai’s tomb, and a childhood Pinocchio, while her wedding ring remains the most treasured item. Smith performed Horses in full at Madrid’s Teatro Real during a European tour marking the album’s 50th anniversary and has published Bread of Angels, a comprehensive memoir, continuing to create across media.

Read at english.elpais.com