A Momentary Glory

"An incredibly moving collection. The book not only contains some of Shapiro's finest lyrics, but provides a kind of retrospection of all the subjects and themes he's touched on in previous work: his war experiences, his turn to 'wisdom literature,' his often mordant and broken-hearted lyrics on relationships, on family, on love and sex, and, now, on illness and aging. The poems are rendered in lines at once crystalline and clear and yet far too complex and intelligent to be called plain song."

~Michael Heller, author of This Constellation Is a Name: Collected Poems 1965–;2010

""[M]oments of transcendence are spiced with a healthy dose of sarcasm, illness is redeemed through humor, and memories are alive with desire and poignancy. Not a single poem is a letdown, nor an easy diversion—each one brims with intensity and completeness.""

~Jake Marmer, The Arty Semite

""Like Zukofsky and Reznikoff, Shapiro was born into a Yiddish-speaking home and came to American English with an outsider's perspective and voraciousness. It is for that reason that the urge towards a simple and commonplace vocabulary seems all the more intentional for this Ivy League–educated poet. In his final collection, linguistic disarmament reaches an apex and appears to be a spiritual rather than programmatic effort—a purification ritual of sorts.""

~Jake Marmer, Jewish Review of Books

""The poems are reflections of a man nearing the end of a long life well lived, and are marvels of economy and devastating insight that illuminate feelings of passion, joy, regret, Jewish angst, and spiritual transcendence like flash bulbs going off in a dark room.""

~Albert Stern, Berkshire Jewish Voice

""A spirited and even provocative account of how one gifted poet spent the final days of a life he not only loved but dared to record.""

~Sonja James, The Journal, Martinsburg, West Virginia

""The gentle passion in the pages of A Momentary Glory are infused with a straightforward individualism that is never isolating.""

~Barbara Berman, The Rumpus

""These portraits of people, places, and moments recalled have the wit and engagement that marked all his work.""

~Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

""[R]eaders will notice the dexterity with which Shapiro shapes his short poems in this terrific collection of posthumous gleanings.""

~Dan Giancola, The East Hampton Star

""Among the chief pleasures of these poems is to hear Shapiro, or rather the wry, take-no-bullshit persona he inhabits, talking to himself, pondering, joking, sifting his thoughts and perceptions, trying to grasp just who he has become in his closing act.""

~James Gibbons, Hyperallergic

""An incredibly moving collection. The book not only contains some of Shapiro's finest lyrics, but provides a kind of retrospection of all the subjects and themes he's touched on in previous work: his war experiences, his turn to 'wisdom literature,' his often mordant and broken-hearted lyrics on relationships, on family, on love and sex, and, now, on illness and aging. The poems are rendered in lines at once crystalline and clear and yet far too complex and intelligent to be called plain song.""

~Michael Heller, author of This Constellation Is a Name: Collected Poems 1965–2010

""In these last poems Shapiro plays for keeps. This is a brave book that looks death in the eye and does not flinch.""

~Hugh Seidman, author of Somebody Stand Up and Sing