Among the Crags of the Eyrie

<p class=ql-align-justify><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Daniel Shapiro's </span><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Among the Crags of the Eyrie</em><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> brings together several strands in the poet's oeuvre to date</span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 176 80 1)></span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(255 0 0 1)> </span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>namely confessional poetry poems relating to family and relationships and ekphrastic verse. The poems in this new collection are constructed with remarkable precision each a gift of music and form. They seek to ascend and descend the way eagles do from their eyries but also </span><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>transcend</em><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> as suggested in the title poem. Others grouped in the book's four sections</span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(255 0 0 1)> </span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>include a confession provoked by a fire exploring its traumatic aftermath as well as its capacity for generating renewal; whimsical elegies honoring the poet's father and mother; and tender lyrics to lovers even one to Brazilian birdees. A long narrative piece The Thief with his Eyes relates a story about a distant cousin who made his fortune in California then lost it all. Among the book's additional offerings are an ode to an ostrich; a meditation on eggs from chicken to chocolate to Fabergé; and poems reflecting on works by Tiffany Rodin Modigliani and others</span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(25 107 36 1)></span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> which </span><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>celebrate art's transformative power.</span></p><p><br></p>