Celebrity

[hillwalker]

CELEBRITY

All readers are warned that this poem may contain some flash photography…

The face that launched a thousand nips
and tucks is on the news,
another media frenzy
now she's battling with the booze.

Hated and revered
from one headline to the next;
….. worth more to Murdoch's balance sheet
than even Posh and Becks.

Craving our attention
with a boyfriend half her age,
then pleading for some privacy
on Saturday's front page.

Every smile is counterfeit,
a mask that's wearing thin;
every quote a cliché
trying to hide the child within.

Pursued by paparazzi,
like hyenas giving chase;
their tele-photos firing
at her flash-lit, frozen face.

How long before we see through this
obscene and sordid show;
just papers making money,
waiting….. for the next Monroe.


H

[dafydd manton]

Tabloid Hell! Thanks, Hill. It has that horrible ring of truth and cynicism, which we all love to hate.

[Delta40]

I wonder which person it is but with either way you have really given a great snapshot here of your own. how awful to be pursued relentlessly

[hack]

Good one Hill, The Riddler look
is really not attractive.. It also
seems a little odd to have celebrities
who are famous only for being famous.
I can't think of why they might be
celebrated...peace...

[Haunted]

this is funny and sad at the same time. Thanks Hill for this incisive piece about niptucks that make the celebs and the celebs that sell papers. Sign of the times.

[Bar22do]

I was moved by

a mask that's wearing thin;
every quote a cliché
trying to hide the child within.

I brought to mind Yeats's famous "The Mask"


'Put off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes.'
'O no, my dear, you make so bold
To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold.'

'I would but find what's there to find,
Love or deceit.'
'It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what's behind.'

'But lest you are my enemy,
I must enquire.'
'O no, my dear, let all that be;
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me?'



and I'm glad you unmask here the fake glamour that hides -- what? -- misery and abyss.

Thanks a lot - Bar

[PrinceMyshkin]

I love the seemingly effortless wit in this, the rhymes that are so effective.

[hillwalker]

Thank you all for your kind comments - it's not aimed at any one 'celebrity' in particular, or at any single publication.... where do I start?

It's a tongue-in-cheek rant at the way the tabloids adopt a new 'superstar', saturate the public with every detail of their private lives then take great delight in watching them crash and burn as a result (the messier the fall the better - suicide an added bonus)

and all for the sake of selling more copies.

[miyako73]

Very witty! this line is unforgettable: "Every smile is counterfeit"

[Jerrybaldy]

An ace Hill.
Can't help but feel that the reading public are the real villians of this piece. They are merely feeding 'us' what 'we' want.
cheers
Jerry

[hillwalker]

Thank you both..... you are probably right, Jer. We get the press we deserve.

[blank|verse]

Good piece, hill, a ballad for modern times. It reminded me of 'Icons' by Richard Wilbur. And I've been meaning to get round to writing a celebrity-based poem myself.

Nice opening; just not sure you need the ellipses. Good stuff.

[hillwalker]

just not sure you need the ellipses.

In the second verse probably not, but in the final one I couldn't resist.