Patti Smith paints her picture very descriptively. She paints her childhood of rote prayers taught to her by her mother, her experiences with Stephanie and her beautiful possessions, her experiences with being an outcast at school, Robert Mapplethorpe’s experiences, trying to find her way in New York City, and meeting Robert Mapplethorpe for the first time.

She had her first psychedelic experiences, it seems, when she was lying in bed with a fever, praying–she thought–to God. That’s interesting, because those first experiences seem to have shaped everything that came afterwards in her life.

Patti believes strongly in fate, or fatalism. That continues throughout her life, even until and after she meets Robert Mapplethorpe.