Gary Colemanesque
posted Oct 30, 2007
- a child star waits to grow into a grotesque version of himself
- his legs quiver in growth, his eyes pop out, his bright pants tighten, he cries
- his parents tie him down to a chair and whisper his lines
- his parents feed him toasted pastries filled with fake fruit
- a slate claps in front of him, he walks into apple take-charlie take
- you’d see hoardings of him everywhere outside town
- a child star grows up to stare at full moons in the daytime and smile
- his agent sends him commercials, sings him compliments, hangs up
- his parents loosen the constraints to feed him liquid food
- a child star waits for his nose to bulge out
- he will then look like a criminal or a porn star
- his premature forehead bulges out
- it is monstrous, and people look away or gawk
- he stares at the camera when he finishes his lines
- he takes late flights to Central Virginia to rest up where later he’ll marry
- three people sit down to whisper his lines
- a child star always memorizes what to say next
© 2007 Daniel Nester
God Save My Queen, God Save My Queen II, and The History of My World Tonight. His writing has appeared in The Best Creative Nonfiction, Third Rail: The Poetry of Rock and Roll, The Best American Poetry 2003, Open City, and elsewhere. He writes articles and reviews for Poets & Writers, Time Out New York, PoetryFoundation.org and Bookslut, edits the online journal Unpleasant Event Schedule, and maintains a website at danielnester.com.
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