They Call It Fame

 

“The fame thing isn't really real… you know…Don't forget …I'm also just a girl… standing in front of a boy… asking him to love her.”  Julia Roberts (as Anna Scott in Notting Hill)

A pseudo-panorama,

On the tainted panes

Of my white limousine,

The mutant flashes

Of thousands flashbulbs

Engaged in a bedazzled seizure

Of my synthetic effigy,

Through the night’s curtains

I see the scuffling torsos

Of Jurassic shadows,

The catcalls and yelps calling,

Garbled variants of my name

Coalesce in the exhaled air,

Like a frosty slush inundating

Ruins of the wraith town,

They clamor in tiny streams

For the last piece of molded cheese.

They call it

Fame.

In parallel chronologies,

When I gag in taffeta pillows

And purging in crystal lights,

I tell stories

Of a lost fable.

Once upon a time,

Camouflaged in the folds,

There lay a sculpture

Drawing cryptic contours

Around my navel ring.

As I saw the coy smile fading,

The stolid face

In a luminescence of shadows,

Your construed truths,

Mumbles of constrained space,

Soaring ambitions and antagonistic lives,

There were few beats

Of my plummeting heart

That knew what was coming.

It was over.

Sooner than the flicker of fireflies.

But there were leftovers,

A melanin residue,

He called it

Fame.

Author's Note

This is one of the spontaneous pieces I wrote. I was watching Notting Hill a few days back… and there was this scene of Julia Roberts coming back to Hugh Grant in a humble submission only to be rejected probably because the protagonist, Anna Scott( played by Roberts) was famous and the people( in the film) lead unequal lives. That was perhaps one of the ‘it’ moments of the cinematic wonders I had watched. I remembered one of the interviews given by one of the leading Indian actress who I remember telling that Fame is like the flame of a lamp- it lights up the room it is in, but beneath the flame there is darkness.

Reviews

[Empirik]

Interesting take on fame. Never heard this way before. I liked it, but it was dark. As the night falls and we search for one last breath to be seen by others it gets absorbed in the wind of today and surrounds the grey mist-like-fog coming towards you.There's no mistake. You are seen, and they call that fame too. Nice! :)

[Crystal Marie Dreier]

I really love this poem. How you can watch something and transform it into words like this I have no clue!

[Tate Morgan]

I feel somewhat sorry for those who have to live with fame it is so unforgiving and shallow

[Susanna F]

I've never seen the movie, but this poem is mezmerizing. It is so precise and surreal that it seems to be happening in slow motion, then the final, deliberate falling of emotion drops painfully. You really captured a moment beautifully.

[Chris Yip]

Fame is everyones dream at some point or another to have and to experience. How true that it last only a brief moment and can disappear like vapour. While you are in the spotlight , flaunt it I guess and enjoy it fully. But when one gets addicted to it, ones life can fall apart without it. How true your poem is. Well done.

[An owl on the moon]

Notting Hill is one of my fav movies.. even have the soundtrack.. so your piece immediately pulled me in... You delve deeply into the shadows of success... what it is and isn't, and how it can unravel into emptiness in a moment.. What so many seek is such a shallow fabric suspended over an abyss... May we seek a deeper purpose in life than mere fame...

[Robbie~xoxo~]

"Sooner than the flicker of fireflies.
But there were leftovers,
A melanin residue,
He called it
Fame." ~ Wow!!... what a magnificent ending!

This is a Brilliant write, Aaran!

[Sarah]

realy good.

[K.C. Zbryk]

I love the change in perspective here, and it suited the piece well. This is a very unique view of fame but it worked well. Great work here sir, and i love how you explained what inspired this. I cant wait to read more.

[Coyote Poetry]

Fame can be costly for the people unable to handle the responsibility. I wouldn't want great fame. I like my private life and time to think. Description was strong and the ending was powerful. Thank you for the excellent poem.
Coyote

[Amila Jay]

This is an awesome write:-)