It seems a good few celebrities have had a go at the old poetry game over the years and now Charlie Sheen becomes the latest addition to the scene. I say ‘poetry’ but I do wonder if I’m being too liberal in classifying it as so. Indeed, I find it quite amusing that the Poetry Foundation (as pointed out by John Lundberg) won’t even include celebrity poetry in their bestsellers list.
As I read through reams of celebrity poetry, one question kept spring up: Do they actually know what poetry is? Some is what I can only describe as non-prose, but to call it poetry is an insult on the field.Here we go, Dolly Parton’s collection Poetic Selections on reasons to live, reasons to love and reasons to smile. Hmmm, well, aren’t these just song lyrics? They could certainly not be called poetry…
Beauty is a rare perfume, precious,
Yet doesn’t last long
And youth is but a playful breeze
That blows our way once
And moves on.
And actors seem to love dabbling in what they like to call 'poetry'. There’s the somewhat famous Jimmy Stewart performance of ‘Beau’ (which is surely only admired for his seductive voice rather than the poetic merit.) Give it a listen...
And of course, let’s not forget the ‘poetry’ of Leonard Nimoy:
I love you
not for what
I want you to be
But for what you are
I loved you then
For what you were
I love you now
for what you have become
Mmmm. And more recently Val Kilmer, Suzanne Somers, Viggo Mortesen and Charlie Sheen have had a go. I’ll leave you with one of his better ones:
I.D. Blues By Charlie Sheen
"Excuse me, aren't you...?"
"Hey, you look just like..."
"Oh my God, that's..."
.
