In this touching and poetic work, Patti Smith, author, rock poet, and icon of New York's dynamic punk scene in the 1970s, honors the memory of her companion, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). The texts in 'The Coral Sea' vividly describe the sea journey of a man under the Southern Cross. Metaphorical and dreamlike reflections on his life alternate with descriptions of his obsessions and his battle against AIDS. The story of a metamorphosis is based on Patti Smith's decades-long friendship with the legendary photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe. She accompanies him as a young man, as a stylish artist, and on his journey toward death. The newly released edition of 'The Coral Sea' is presented in German for the first time and includes poems that Patti Smith wrote for Mapplethorpe after the first edition was published—moving masterpieces that have not been published before. Photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, and Lynn Davis accompany the texts.