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Alice Shapiro
Alice Shapiro
LIFE Descending / Ascending (TotalRecall Press, 2010)
“In this new volume of poems, Alice Shapiro finds countless ways to show us how we live now. She transforms the present moment into vivid art, blends down-to-earth voices with a poet’s sense of sound deftly, and meets the challenge of writing originally about big subjects like politics, death, disease, loneliness, and love. In Life, Shapiro is guilty of great writing, and her poetry descends into life itself and ascends into rare achievement.” --Hans Ostrom, author of The Coast Starlight: Collected Poems 1976-2006
“In this new volume of poems, Alice Shapiro finds countless ways to show us how we live now. She transforms the present moment into vivid art, blends down-
Alice Shapiro's far-reaching second collection of poems, Life, investigates the lesson that "has no end" and seeks-out philosophical clues that make up our lives during a time of war: an ink-black ocean, paisley dress, chocolate, a door ajar, cup of joe... Where "arguments / lose their salt" fact becomes the closed spaces in a "mind exiled from its mental country" because, as the speaker says, "your truth is my oblivion". Seen from "the pit of a heart" and "heard within our own adventure," Life journeys forward trying to solve the endless, personal mystery of another day on Earth. Listen: the breath, the yelp, the distant roar, "the future?" –Elena Karina Byrne
Alice Shapiro's latest book of poetry, Life: Descending / Ascending, is a rich and varied volume, filled with melodic images delineating her dark yet hopeful vision, leavened with humorous asides and astute observation. The arts community and poetry lovers of Douglas County and West Georgia are fortunate to have her among us. We have needed a poet laureate, and now it seems we may have one."
--Laura C. Lieberman, Executive Director, Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville/Douglas County, Inc.
“I can feel the shiver / of love” in these poems. --Mary Harwell Sayler
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“I can feel the shiver / of love” in these poems. -
