Covenant

The coherence Shapiro prizes is both more thorough and more thoroughgoing thanthat offered by a moralizing intelligence. His poetry comes by its sad wisdomthrou... » 

The coherence Shapiro prizes is both more thorough and more thoroughgoing thanthat offered by a moralizing intelligence. His poetry comes by its sad wisdomthrough its accomodations to human happenstance and estrangement. . . .InCovenant sympathy grounds itself in worldly particulars and subjectivitybegets responsibilities. Hardnosed yet tenderly attentive Shapiros acuteselfconsciousness distills an exacting conscientiousness.David BarberPoetryAt fortyyearsold and already the author of four superbly written books ofpoems Shapiro has produced a work of such authority and originality that hehas permanently enlarged my hopes and expectations for contemporary poetry. Hisriskloving swiftness of perception and his affinity for stories that upendconvention and taboo have enabled him to reclaim for poets of my generationareas of feeling and linguistic virtuosity that originated with William CarlosWilliams Elizabeth Bishop J. V. Cunningham and Ivor Winters. It is hard forme to see how an ideal anthologist of the future will be able to include theirnames without gratefully including his.Tom Sleigh Boston Phoenix «