Synopses & Reviews
"The coherence Shapiro prizes is both more thorough and more thoroughgoing than that offered by a moralizing intelligence. His poetry comes by its sad wisdom through its accomodations to human happenstance and estrangement. . . .In
Covenant, sympathy grounds itself in worldly particulars, and subjectivity begets responsibilities. Hardnosed yet tenderly attentive, Shapiro's acute self-consciousness distills an exacting conscientiousness."—David Barber,
Poetry"At forty-years-old and already the author of four superbly written books of poems, Shapiro has produced a work of such authority and originality that he has permanently enlarged my hopes and expectations for contemporary poetry. His risk-loving swiftness of perception and his affinity for stories that up-end convention and taboo have enabled him to reclaim, for poets of my generation, areas of feeling and linguistic virtuosity that originated with William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, J. V. Cunningham, and Ivor Winters. It is hard for me to see how an ideal anthologist of the future will be able to include their names without gratefully including his."—Tom Sleigh, Boston Phoenix
About the Author
Alan Shapiro has published twelve books of poetry, including Night of the Republic, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Griffin Prize, and Old War, winner of the Ambassador Book Award. In 2014 Shapiro was awarded a North Carolina Award for his body of work. He teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
One
The Sweepers
Maison des Jeunes
At the Dump
1. Sunday
2. Saturday
3. If I Were There
The Visitation
Mud Dancing
Virgil's Descent
Two
Night Watch
The Experiment
The Dawn of Time
Cold Wood
The Lesson
Three
Love Poem
Underground
Rock Pool
Owl
Guessing Game
Marriage
Seventh Month
Tour for Expecting Parents
In the Kingdom of Pleasure
Separation of the Waters
Dawn Chorus
Kinship
Turkey Vultures
Prayer on the Temple Steps
Turn
Four
Home Movie
Two Elegies
Purgatory
Covenant