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There is no arguing with the fact that Patti Smith can write beautifully. The Coral Sea was a wonderful observation of grief and sickness, but some parts just went over my head. It really is an amazing piece of art, I just didn't understand all of it.
ok this is beautiful
This is a most beautiful book, perfect in its own way, Patti Smith's poetic elegy for her friend, onetime lover and soulmate Robert Mapplethorpe, interspersed with a selection of his photographs, like meditations. As a writer, I'm in awe. The prologue sets the tone and the scene, with Morpheus, 'from a place apart' regarding his charge - 'a young man asleep within the cloth of a voyage, which is turning, ever so slowly, even as the widening skirt of an ecstatic.'
I read "Just Kids", now I need more Patti.Update: I finished reading "The coral sea" a few days ago. I read it in spanish. I was beautiful and poetic, but hardly a story.It's not like I expected it to be one, but it surprised me for the best how each chapter was a beautiful piece of art in itself.You could read them separately and you would still get the most inspired and inspiring images.I reacomend it as a poetry book, not a follow up to "We were kids" (Pattis Smith's previously released book
I really like this book specially after reading Just kids and listen to her music.
the heart-wrenching way that Patti writes about Robert through poetry in this one is beyond what was seem on Just Kids. complex, beautiful and tragic.
A remembrance in poetry of Robert Mapplethorpe.Poetry Review: The Coral Sea is a collection of Patti Smith's writing about the memory of Robert Mapplethorpe who passed in 1989, up to that point in time (1996). I read the revised version published in 2012, which added more poems to the original edition. It consists of a preface to his book Flowers, a poem for his memorial, and a sequence of prose poems that tell "our story." The collection is well illustrated by both their photographs. As such, i...
4.5 starsI believe that Coral Sea was a photo taken by Robert Mapplethorpe in 1983.... At least that is what I gathered. It was wonderful but I admit I didn't quite understand all of it, possibly because I've never experienced such a tragedy; because of this I found my own meanings, that I found fascinating. I feel I will read this later on as an adult and understand fully.My favourite excerpt has got to be the first paragraph of "Light Play" - page 41:"He was destined to be ill, quite ill, thou...
This book is very strange and sweet. If your a fan of Patti's poetry than you will enjoy this book.It is a short collection of poems inspired by Patti's friend Robert. Patti and Robert's relationship is told in her book "Just Kids".You can read this book before or after "Just Kids" but I would recommend reading "Just Kids" before reading "The Coral Sea". I suggest this because I felt more empathetic and attached to the poems and reading about Robert.Patti Smith his come aways since HORSES. Or ma...
Exceptionally beautiful.
soft and sick. ive never known a writer who can paint an image like patti smith.
The title piece, a long prose poem, was written in 1996 after the death of Patti Smith's dear friend, the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. This 2012 reissue includes some other poems for him, and a preface he asked her to write for his book, Flowers.It's the most exquisite and moving work. The use of language is extraordinary — heightened and unusual, yet at the same time clear and straightforward. A paradox! There is nothing self-consciously writerly about it; rather she is making art, and doe...
"When he passed away I could not weep so I wrote. Then I took the pages and set them away. Here are those pages, my farewell to my friend, my adventure, my unfettered joy".A reflection on the life of her friend Robert Mapplethorpe, written in poetic prose by the great Patti Smith, one of the most diversely talented women in the world today.
I adore Patti Smith. What more can I say?
I just finished this unusual and beautiful book. It's a simple idea, but like nothing I've come across before. Patti Smith is fearless and creative, baring her own emotions while going deep to enter the soul of her dear friend, who faced the greatest mystery of life, death. It is an early book for Smith, and she has gone on to explore and grow in her prose over the years. I really loved the interplay between images and text.
What a touching way to cope with the parting of a beloved person. If I knew more about the Mapplethorpe's background, I think I would understand some of the references better but still, those were some amazing prose poems. Everyone who reads this, I presume, secretly wishes that they will lead such a life, and that they will touch other people's lives in such a way, that they will one day become the subjects of a similarly moving and sensitive literary homage.
Absolutely beautiful.I think, having recently read Just Kids and knowing a little about her story and Robert's it was even more poignant.I borrowed this book from the library, but will be buying several copies - one for myself and a few for gifts. Ms. Smith's writing consistently liquefies me.For example, from The Pedestal (pg. 56) Such tears filled him with revulsion. No one could enter a soul composed of tears, for one would surely drown.I recommend this without reservation to anyone who enjoy...
This collection of poetry is deeply moving, at times too intimate and every word meaningful. Such a treasure to have a friend like this and such a treasure to the rest of the world that she shares her gift of writing. I look forward to reading more.
just lovely
The most gorgeous elegy - silver waves of sorrow and golden clouds of pain and joy and life leaving. Her words, as always, like gems strewn upon the age. This destroyed me utterly and filled me with light. I will read this over and over and over again. Cosmic giant sigh.
