2010 年一月，羅柏‧梅普索普（Robert Mapplethorpe）因愛滋病去世的二十年後，《只是孩子》出版。佩蒂‧史密斯（Patti Smith）用了十年時間，給他寫了一封很長的信。她希望人們記住他，不僅是因他的性別認同或那場奪走了他生命的愛滋病——他美麗的靈魂在世界遺落下的東西，遠大於那些標籤。
1967 年的紐約，是他們完整生命的起點，佩蒂在書裡寫道，「⋯⋯吉米・韓崔克斯（Jimi Hendrix）在蒙特羅燒了他的吉他。AM 電台播放了〈比利・喬頌歌〉。紐華克、密爾瓦基和底特律發生了暴動的一九六七年夏天。這是電影《鴛鴦戀》的夏天，愛的夏天。在居無定所、飽受冷遇的氣氛裡，一次偶然的相遇改變了我的生命軌跡。這是我遇到羅柏‧梅普索普的夏天。」兩個年輕藝術家，懷抱夢想在六〇年代七〇年代的紐約大城闖蕩，他們很窮，一起睡過門廊，蜷縮在公園一角，沒錢吃飯時，到熟識的咖啡館晃晃，能得到幾片乾扁生菜與麵包。身上的錢只夠買一張票進美術館，他們會猜拳決定誰能進去看展，出來再仔仔細細地把展覽說給另個人聽。當生活看似潦倒困苦時，佩蒂會默念她的咒語，「我是自由的，我是自由的。」當他們赤足徜徉在紐約街頭，看這城如何容納著雜亂不羈的音樂、藝術與人們，生長出一種野蠻、富有創造力的氣息時，他們感覺自己是自由的。
我在 79 頁折了一角，那是佩蒂在描述二十一歲生日時，羅柏送了她一副塔羅小書。
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她寫道：「他把我倆描述成吉普賽人和傻子。一個創造寂靜，一個聆聽寂靜。在波折不斷的生命漩渦中，我們不斷交換扮演著這兩個角色。」
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之後的故事，他們說好，在廣袤宇宙裡，做彼此永恆的藍星。創造與聆聽的路上，通向彼此，最終成為自己。
彼時相遇，他們只是孩子，他們還太年輕，無法清楚指認自己。他們還不知道，他們將經歷身而為人、作為藝術家最艱難也最重要的轉變期。他們將成為「跨掉的一代」，見證並成為整個世代的轉變。
或許有人會說，《只是孩子》是關於愛情和失去。但佩蒂在一次採訪中點出，最終，她談論的是那更珍貴的東西： 「何謂真正的友誼，是這本書的核心。我的意思是，羅柏是我的男友。我們經歷了從如此親密做回朋友的轉變期，那過程很痛苦，可能會使多數的情侶從此分手，不再相見。但羅伯與我之間，我們有著比性愛、激情更深刻的東西。當然，生活在一起，對彼此坦誠，親密的肢體接觸，這些都是很美麗的事情。 但是，我們之間的連結超越了那一切。當我們一起創作，我們激發了彼此的潛能，在這過程中，我們給予彼此自信，並透過對方，找到了自己身為藝術家的信念。那連結是如此強大，直到今天，我仍能感覺得到。如果我步履蹣跚，如果我感到缺乏信心。想起他始終相信著我的這個事實，足以讓我變得堅強。我從沒想過他會在年少時期死去，但是我十分珍惜那些在我們之間滋長並被保存下來的東西。 儘管我們不再是情侶，但有些更珍貴的情誼被留了下來。」
After Robert Mapplethorpe died for AIDS. Twenty years later, Patti Smith wrote him a long long letter. She wants people to remember him. He was more than his gender identity, he was more than his illness. His beautiful soul was much more than that.
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Back then they met each other, they were just kids who still too young to recognize themselves. They didn’t know yet, they would go through a hard transition in their life as a human being, as an artist— even more, that was a big transition that happened in the whole Beat Generation.
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Some people would say, the book is about love and loss. But Patti said in an interview:
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“The heart of it is what true friendship is about.
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I mean, Robert was my boyfriend. And it’s heartbreaking for both of us to go through the transition of going from being so intimate to be friends. And naturally, this would break up most couples. But Robert and I had something so much deeper than, you know, things like sex and things like that. Which all of these things are important, you know, living together, being true to one another, and being physically intimate. They all beautiful things.
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But the things that we had transcended everything, and that was that we bonded through our work, and both of us felt magnified by the other. Both of us completed our self-confidence, and our belief in ourselves as an artist through the other.
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And it was so strong that, I mean, I still feel it today.
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If I falter, if I feel lacking in confidence. I can access that part of him that believes in me, and I feel stronger. I never thought he would die so young. But I cherish those things that we nourished and that we saved.
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If we couldn’t save our relationship as a couple, we saved something more precious.”
Jo Scenario 