Ballarat, February 2022

 

A grotto of cathedral rock

blue in the shallows

bleak in the depths

secular guides point lurid torches

pilgrims offer candles – neither can illuminate

the mystery of Elliott Smith.

 

The glam descent, a dark modal turn

sappy crimson plastic keys

inverted ivory, a tone scaffold collapses

into mellifluousness

steel strings pick at old wounds

a plectrum amplifies more forceful declarations.

 

Whisper thin voce finta

double-tracked allusions to strength

lyrical fragments at the precipice of longing:

his songs kept me holding on for years.

 

A scratched disc in a glove box

the records she took when she left –

my absent lover inhabits these songs.

There is no space in my heart for the music of Elliott Smith.

 

Stereo Story #717

Anthony Camm’s Spotify playlist for his poem.

Also see Maria Majsa’s story about Between The Bars.

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Anthony Camm is an arts and cultural sector worker whose writing on art has appeared in Art Monthly Australia, Eyeline and numerous exhibition catalogues. He also writes songs and poems. His writing can be found here: https://independent.academia.edu/CammAnthony