I came into music because I thought the presentation of poetry wasnt vibrant enough. So I merged improvised poetry with basic rock chords. – Patti Smith

What I wanted to do in rock n roll was merge poetry with sonic scapes, and the two people who had contributed so much to that were Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. – Patti Smith

When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock n roll was asleep. – Patti Smith