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

HOLY GHOST

Wait. Where was that at? Sheeeeeeee, wasn’t no ball one, that was my sickest, most filthiest Lord Charles, man, completely unhittable pitch, kisses the corner then drops to the dirt—come on, Har-vold. Okay okay, just ball one, suck it…

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE TREE

Not the very beginning, but for our purposes. Because we could muster a good argument that without the tree, there would be no human. Let us be grateful, then, for the tree. Tree: a plant with the biomechanics to support height and weight;…

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

Words by Patricia Smith
Original music by Paul Finley

Recent Works

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