Famous

Nye uses everyday objects and everyday encounters to suggest the accessibility of fame, if not the glitter and flash of celebrity but rather fame that is defined by the intricate interconnections between people and objects, between people and nature, and between people and other people.

Fame seems so out of reach. Celebrities seem to live in some wonderland alternate dimension where attention and flattery, money, and power elevate those few to pop culture fame. To a culture fascinated by the dynamics of celebrity and by how inaccessible such dimensions of popularity and fame remain for most, the poem counsels a reader to relax. Drawn to the sensationalism and glitter of fame that seems at best a coaxing fantasy, at worst a self-destructive spiral into low self-esteem, the reader does not realize they are famous already. Famous not like actors or athletes, supermodels or wealthy entrepreneurs, but rather famous like backyard cats to the birds that eye them carefully or a boot when it feels that solid step against the ground or a buttonhole awaiting the sure feel of a button. Every part of an individual’s life affirms that the person maintains a place within the real-time world, defined by what that person does, what that person sees, what that person feels.