I’m happy when I’ve got a little project. I like making things.

I’ve always been a watcher, and I think about what I’ve seen. Sometimes this results in an object. Sometimes I try to get at it with words.  When I’m lucky, something will take my thinking—take me—to a new place and I get to see what’s in the weeds.

At times, there’s no thinking, there’s just looking, and lauding, and that becomes the project.

Recently, I’ve been collaborating with the  composer and jazz musician, Paul Finley, to create duets using prose and piano: words and music in conversation, another way to get at it and another happy project.

Recent Works

EVERYTHING NOT FORBIDDEN IS COMPULSORY

In movies, there’s the iconic shot of a lone person wading into a vast glittering ocean, a resolute body consigning itself to the sea. But on that sunny evening at Chesterman beach, my brother Geoff wasn’t seeking death. He was snatching…

ARACHNORAMA

ARACHNORAMA If you wish to live and thrive, Let a spider run alive. LET’S BE FRIENDS There’s more to a spider than the number of legs. We would like you humans to know us. We would like to share what we know about you humans. Knowledge…

A Duet for Prose and Piano
Paul Finley & Patricia Smith
Photo Courtesy Paul Joseph Brown

Words by Patricia Smith
Original music by Paul Finley

© Copyright - patriciacanrightsmith.com