Swinging on a Star
David TrinidadThis two-part collection by the beloved, award-winning poet looks at mortality, celebrity, pop culture, poetry, dreams, and otherworldliness in often disarming ways.
“Bedrock at Night” (think The Flintstones) is the title poem of the first section, with tributes to Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Hollywood idols, and more. The second part is an extended Neruda-esque ode to a life cut short: that of singer Buddy Holly.
- "Swinging on a Star unfolds with grace, precision, and gentle humor as it probes the possibilities of self-knowledge, dream-knowledge, and words themselves. The magical, ordinary world of things that has been Trinidad's unequaled terrain now finds its singer questing in the realm of human connection and mortality." ―Lisa Fishman
- ''The afterlife of fame / is dark.' David Trinidad understands this better than any poet this side of Emily Dickinson. 'O float me to Oblivion / in my swan bed.' If at times our prospects look bleak, we are nevertheless reminded, again and again throughout these minimalist meditations on immortality, that the afterlife of language is poetry."―Suzanne Buffam
- "Reading Swinging on a Star was like watching a great old movie: without warning, what began as effortless pleasure suddenly opened up a world inside of me, a sensual magic lantern of memories. These poems will take you from smiling quietly to reaching for the tissues."―Jennifer Moxley