...heroine: the artist, the premier mistress writhering in a garden graced w/highly polished blades of grass... release (ethiopium) is the drug...an animal howl says it all...notes pour into the caste of freedom...the freedom to be intense...to defy social order and break the slow kill monotony of censorship. to break from the long bonds of servitude-ruthless adoration of the celestial shepherd. let us celebrate our own flesh-to embrace not ones race mais the marathon-to never let go of the fiery sadness called desire.

Smith has recorded a cover of Buddy Holly's classic "Words of Love" for the CD Rave On Buddy Holly a tribute album tied to Holly's seventy-fifth birthday year which was released June 28 2011. A box set of her work up to that time The Patti Smith Masters came out in 1996 and 2002 saw the release of Land (1975–2002) a two-CD compilation that includes a memorable cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry". In the winter of 2004/2005 Smith toured again with Nader in a series of rallies against the Iraq War and called for the impeachment of George W.

On November 17 2010 Patti Smith won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids. Called the "Godmother of Punk" her work was a fusion of rock and poetry.