'the Cocteau is covered in butter'
– Elvis Perkins
forgot the illustrative line
amid the complexity of debate
– Russ Tamblyn in Tom Thumb –
– Russ Tamblyn in West Side Story –
(melodrama of strong
circulatory systems)
& that is taste—
the essential material of melancholy
set off against other
inclinations:
the improbable resonance
of a tongue in a mouth
under neon, to be remembered
in any mood
when there's nothing on
in town or tv, & the question becomes
how much of your self do
you give to live in the song
__________________
Barnaby Smith is a poet, journalist and musician currently based near Sydney, Australia. His poetry has appeared in Cordite, Southerly, FourW, Foam:e, Australian Poetry Journal, Best Australian Poems, Australian Poetry Anthology, Meniscus, Transnational Literature, Molly Bloom, E:Ratio and others. His arts and music criticism has appeared in or at Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Australian Book Review, The Quietus and others, and he records music as Brigadoon. www.brigadoon.bandcamp.com
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