Danny Shot
HERO WORSHIP

Patti’s heroes are my heroes,
Rimbaud, Ginsberg, Dylan,
Burroughs, Corso, Houdini,
Joan of Arc, Marianne Faithful.
I must have found a few on my own.
Patti Smith is my hero.

I met her once, up close
at St Marks Poetry Project.
It was awkward.
I tried to give her a book of poems
by Jack Wiler entitled I Have No Clue.
Jack from Wenonah, a small town in South Jersey
Patti from Vineland or thereabouts
Jack 5 years older than me,
5 years younger than Patti,
(the first time I met Jack he said “I thought you
and Eliot Katz were old guys, Jesus Christ,
you’re just a kid. I was 22).
so I thought she might like the book

Anxious, I took a step towards Patti
handing the book to her.
She took a step back.
“This is a book,” I said. “I got a book for you.”
She took a step back.
“A book. For you. I got a book.”
Another step back.
“This is for you. A book.”
Allen Ginsberg, who was close by
came over and put his arm around me,
“this is my friend Danny, he wants to give you a book,”
with that he guided my hands forward to Patti
who reached out to take the book
a nervous smile on her face.
“Thanks,” she said before disappearing.

Today I’m reading M Train,
A book friends have warned me about,
“It’s not Just Kids you know.”
Maybe that’s why I like it better
as I discover new heroes
Thank you Patti Smith
spirit guide, hero.

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DANNY SHOT was longtime publisher and editor of Long Shot arts and literary magazine, which he founded along with Eliot Katz in 1982 in New Brunswick, NJ. A resident of Hoboken, NJ (home of Frank Sinatra and baseball) where he is the poet-in-residence of the Hoboken Museum he has spent over 30 years as a New York City high school English teacher. His poems and stories have been widely anthologized and he’s performed his work everywhere.