About this Event
Includes a signed first edition of Seventh Heaven (1972), Patti Smith’s first poetry book, along with documentation of the story of her signing it, all of which you’ll get to keep
-To be scheduled on the date and at the time of your choosing. Any reasonable accommodation can be made. Just ask.-
This event involves you (and a couple of your friends if you want) sitting among the unmarked graves of Austin’s Oakwood Cemetery Annex, in a section set aside for those with no means to pay for their burials. There, you’ll read to them Patti Smith’s Seventh Heaven to be a companion to the dead there and bring a little unexpected life to those in that part of the graveyard.
Poverty and poetry have long shared the margins of society, and it’s inevitable that at least some of those buried in this section lived with the intensity of a poet’s heart. And regardless of whether they ever put their thoughts on paper, at least a few buried there undoubtedly lived lives of poetry, and you’ll be reading to them. Maybe a few others buried there will enjoy it too.
For the stories and in-depth research behind this experience, feel free to visit my Substack.
To contact me with questions or to purchase directly, follow me on Instagram.
How it'll occur:
On a day good for you, I’ll meet you and your guests at the gates of Oakwood Cemetery Annex, the cemetery built as Austin’s first graveyard became full. There I’ll give you the book Seventh Heaven and a map of the cemetery. You’ll enter the cemetery and use the map to find a respectful place to sit in the open space among the unmarked graves there. You’ll then read aloud from that book to those buried around you.
You’ll leave when you feel like you’re done, and the book will be yours to keep.
What’s included:
*A first edition printing of Seventh Heaven (1972), Patti Smith’s first published poetry book, sloppily signed by her in an airport after a fan rushed to meet her after finding out she’d be there, and its documentation.
*Maps of the cemetery with the pauper grounds marked so you can easily find them.
*A letter to you from me about what you’ll be doing.
Event venue & nearby stays
Oakwood Cemetery Annex, 1600 Comal Street, Austin, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.