Patti Smith Resurfaces

DETROIT – "I'm still shaky from this," says Patti Smith, who's been driven by her husband, Fred Smith, through a hellish rainstorm and rush-hour traffic to make this late afternoon interview at a hotel. The traffic and the rain, Smith can bear. What's shaken her was driving past the aftermath of what looked to be an extremely recent, extremely violent, car crash in this Motor City. The more twisted the wreckage, the more fragile life looks. And, make no mistake, Patti Smith – wife, mother, poet, painter, writer, singer, artist – values life.