“Shapiro’s wonderful and deft volume opens new possibilities for the public and private poem. From the ‘sugar high’ of an astronaut’s step on television, to the ‘sleep and terror’ of a lost decade of youth, to the wrenching deathbed images of a parent, this book has all the music of public elegy and all the intimacy of a private soliloquy. These moving and powerfully crafted poems make us participants, not spectators. They draw us into deeper understandings of our own losses and give us a language for what often seems beyond speech.”
— Eavan Boland, author of A Woman Without a Country
"In deft, quiet language, National Book Award finalist Shapiro . . . recalls the past and how it sometimes hurts. . . . Capturing what many of his readers face, Shapiro . . . has his moment of triumph and honor."
— Library Journal