M Train

In M Train, Patti Smith invites readers into her daily ritual at a quiet Greenwich Village café, where black coffee fuels reflections that drift between memory, dream, and reality. From this intimate starting point, her journey unfolds across a vivid landscape—visiting Casa Azul, the stark beauty of Iceland, and a fragile seaside home in Far Rockaway threatened by Hurricane Sandy.

Blending travel, literary homage, and personal history, Smith moves through places and moments shaped by loss and devotion, including tributes to artists such as Lou Reed and visits to the graves of literary icons. Interwoven are meditations on creativity, solitude, and the enduring impact of her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith.

Accompanied by Smith’s signature Polaroids, M Train is a deeply reflective and atmospheric work—part memoir, part meditation on art, love, and the quiet rituals that sustain a creative life. This edition also features a postscript with five new photographs by the author.

A National Bestseller.