Once upon a time, there was a brilliant but little known young actor named Leonardo DiCaprio. He had somewhat of a cult following among art house film audiences. Oh sure, for awhile, the teenage girls drueled over him as they watched the insipid Growing Pains, but they didn't follow him into the realm of gripping hard-edge dramas like This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I guess a few did, but then when he pushed the limits even further with The Basketball Diaries and Total Eclipse, they were gone. But I was there, as a loyal fan, the whole entire time, even though those last two films were disappointing. I was proud that I was a fan of an actor who wasn't as well known as Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt. Then Romeo and Juliet happened, and the teenie-boppers came flooding in, and liking Leo would never be the same again. I went to see Marvin's Room, where I thought I would be safe from the hordes of little screaming girls, but no...They were seeing a movie that they would never have otherwise seen because LEO WAS IN IT! And once Titanic came ashore, it was all over. Being a Leonardo DiCaprio fan didn't mean anything anymore.
One Fall evening in 1994, I stood on the deck of a lake-side vacation home, looking up at the stars. As I paced back and forth, dreaming of what would happen when I got to Hollywood (yes you can laugh if you really feel the need to), I started to think about how nice it would be to get to know Leo...I mean really get to know him. That's when I wrote a poem called "Rising Star", which--years later--I actually sent to him, along with an autographed photo request, the result of which you see above. I don't know if he actually read the poem or not, but I like to think he did.
RISING STAR
soft
pretty face of a child
touch
skin caress so mild
love
how you make me go wild
long
to feel your body defiled
starlight starbright
the only star i see tonight
i wish i may i wish i might
hold the star in my arms so tight
dream
like only a fool can
show
the measure of a man
try
to make some kind of plan
hope
the shit will hit the fan
reach for the stars
i can't breathe up there
i traveled far
and got nowhere
chance
to meet him face to face
lost
i look in the wrong place
trail
a peasant cannot trace
search
and find only disgrace
you pressed your body against mine
we toured each other's insides
but that was only in my mind
where foolish dreams can easily hide