Throughout her life, Smith maintains a work area surrounded by "manuscript pages, musty classics, broken toys, and talismans" (45), such as pictures of her icons. The French poet Arthur Rimbaud becomes one of Smith's first icons, in whom she finds a "compatriot, kin, and even secret love" (23). She often composes odes to or work inspired by these heroes, including Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Joan of Arc. Both Mapplethorpe and Smith seem to assign religious status to their icons and objects. Mapplethorpe imbues material objects with sacred meaning, like the necklace he buys for Smith, which they share, "depending on who need[s] it the most" (51), or the Joan of Arc gifts he gives her, based on their shared mythology of Joan's significance. When Smith releases her debut album, Horses, she has songs dedicated to Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, her sister, and Wilhelm Reich.

Though she finds her greatest success as a musician, literature nurtures Smith throughout her life and informs her artistic practice. As a young girl, Smith becomes "completely smitten by the book" (6) and "cherishe[s] the idea" (11) that one day she will write a book. Arriving in New York and securing a job at Brentano's bookstore saves Smith from either starving or having to return home with shaken confidence.