You remember Book 9 of the Odyssey, when Homer takes his wandering hero down into the land of the dead to hear their poignant stories? In Hollywood Cemetery, the reader is Odysseus, Hollywood Pre-Code history is Hades, and the ghosts are the minor players of that era, visible to us all now on Blu-ray or DVD. Some stars brag, some confess, some apologize; some express bitterness, some regret; Norma Shearer even floats above her tombstone in costume. But Toto, the little dog in The Wizard of Oz, has the most telling line: “You never know what you’re going to be remembered for. The way things go, you’re lucky if you’re remembered at all.” I hope Trinidad will be remembered as the most readable American poet of his generation. As with his last few collections, it’s almost impossible to put this book down without reading it all the way through. —James Cushing

Hollywood Cemetery should be essential reading for anyone who’s ever strolled—even just in their dreams—down the star-spangled sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. In this dark little trove of mordant epitaphs, David Trinidad serves as necromancer to the would-be’s, the wanna-be’s, the have-beens, and the could’ve-been Queen-bees of the Silver Screen, lending his unmistakable voice—with its signature mix of gossip, nostalgia, wisdom, and sardonic wit—to an eclectic cast of haunted ghosts whose barbed ruminations on fame, fate, and fugitive time offer cautionary tales to all who seek, by way of art, to leave a mark. —Suzanne Buffam

No one writes sharp-witted, funny, and sad all in one poem like David Trinidad. Hollywood Cemetery is dishy and soapy—any movie buff's must-have—but beyond that, Trinidad also considers themes of death and memory. The poems are voiced by various former stars, reanimated by Trinidad's vast knowledge and his incomparable talent for finding the pathos (and often, too, the delicious irony) in these lives. —James Allen Hall