Hollywood & God (Phoenix Poets)
Starred Review. Split between oddly angled bits of memoir and acts of Hollywood ventriloquy, this second poetry collection from Polito (Doubles) leaps between essays and lyrics, between theology and violence, between tell-alls and persona poems. If only God would save me, Polito writes in the title poem, I would know how to hurt you, with the kind of drama and intimacy that infuses many of the voices here. Even Paris Hilton weighs in on spiritual matters (My God makes me feel good). A story about a starlet who falls into a life of drinking, prostitution and poetry doubles as a sad coming-of-age tale, while Please Refrain from Talking During the Movie mixes interior and exterior voices, joining much in this book that's overheard, quoted and borrowed: love moans through hotel walls, instructions from an astrologer and memorized pieces of theBaltimore Catechism. Confused seekers also abound: a woman who thinks the owlish man she lives with is Bob Dylan; another woman who's conflation of her own face, Elvis and God ends tragically; and a man in search of a tintype of his grandmother that may or may not exist. Three personal essays anchor the poems, each a story about interrogating self and god, whether fallen, falling apart or missing altogether.(Apr.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.