Patti Smith, Seventh Heaven
It's been cool to see everyone's interpretation of her art, but let me clarify that this isn't a transgender poem. It's about womanhood and misogyny. Here's an excerpt of a 2015 Patti Smith interview with Maclean's.
"In the ’50s you had to wear pink ribbons if you were a girl, and you were supposed to become a hairdresser or a secretary. I couldn’t stomach it. Later on, when I fell in love with my husband and had children, that’s when my mother’s earthiness or sense of femaleness kicked in. As an artist, I never wanted to be fettered by gender nor recognized or defined as a female poet, musician or singer. They don’t do that with men—nobody says Picasso, the male artist."
"I’m very comfortable with being a female now but when I was a little kid I only wanted to be a boy. I didn’t want to be a girl. I didn’t feel like a man inside… being a boy was just cooler. [...] I’m 68 years old now and I still don’t bend to anybody’s concept of gender. All I’ve ever wanted to do was create freedom."
