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New Poetry Book Pleases with “Gift for Linguistic Invention”

Houston, TX, USA (February 2009)—Most of us have experienced this sad truth: not everyone who writes
poetry is a poet. As one local New York poet laureate observes in his preface to this new book by a
prize-winning poetry anthologist and dramatist:

In poem after poem, Alice Shapiro exhibits her gift for linguistic invention,
an attribute that has always distinguished real poets from those who just
practice poetry….Lovers of words may even learn some new ones—or learn
new ways to use the familiar ones! For those who crave word music, there are
moments of full-throated song, beyond pedantic rhyme or mere alliteration.
Or, you may just close your eyes, repeat her lines and picture a scene from
the poem….
Dr. David B. Axelrod, Suffolk, Long Island, Poet Laureate

Through 108 contemporary poems in Cracked: Timeless Topics of Nature, Courage, and Endurance,
Alice Shapiro uses her exceptional gifts of language, rhythm, and metaphor to explore the complex
relationships we have with each other and the world. As she examines with keen insights the cracks in
her inner and outer worlds, she draws readers into quiet contemplation of the obvious and subtle cracks
in their own.

Connie Post, Poet Laureate of Livermore, CA, also praises Ms. Shapiro’s abilities in her advance review
of Cracked:

With strong images and gripping words, the poems in this book compel us to
look at the ordinary and the extraordinary in our own lives. The eloquent use
of metaphor in each poem leaves the reader wanting more, turning the page,
to find wonderful creativity and surprises in language. The poetry in this collection,
does indeed, bring the reader to examine the cracks of our inner and outer worlds.
With precision and imagery, the poet finds the waiting spaces inside each of us.

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In a detailed appreciation of Shapiro’s work, Dr. Axelrod observes:

She watches “ecstasy turn into gravity” as surely as she observes “the recondite rocks” that
anchor her world. In her poem, “A Wretched Reversal: “There is ample/ time to fall, yet/ no one
lands.” In “Whisperers:” “every thought/ grows full and flowers/ with worthy dialog.”
These and dozens more lines exhibit not just a metaphysical wit—linking emotions to real objects
which allow us to picture her thoughts—but a skilled music as well. Even in “Morass:” “The
spider spins/ a gossamer web./ For all we learn/ of weaving, we’re/ caught in labyrinths/ we did
not contemplate.”

Attached here is a sampling of four poems from Cracked, including one entitled “Obama in New
Hampshire.” But we’re sure you’ll find your own favorites as you savor every page of this small lyrical
gem.

The book is scheduled for publication on June 2, 2009 and will be available in bookstores and through
online booksellers.

About the Author:

Alice Shapiro has been writing since 1985 when she studied under William Packard at New York
University. Her poetry credits include a chapbook, Seasons of the Heart with Scars Publications (2007),
Silent Actor, New Verse News and the anthologies Poetry Connoisseur (third prize winner), Antologia del
Nuovo Mondo, and Thank You Gorbachev! In addition, she has had two plays produced and is winner of
the Bill C. Davis Drama Award. Ms. Shapiro is also author of A South Florida Culinary Adventure. She
lives in Atlanta.

About the Book:

Cracked: Timeless Topics of Nature, Courage, and Endurance, Alice Shapiro
ISBN 978-1-59095-835-3, Paperback, $14.99, 124 pp. Publication Date: June 2, 2009

About the Publisher:

Founded in 1999, TotalRecall Publications, Inc. publishes non-fiction books in a variety of fields, including
computer and financial certification exam preparation and library education, with many titles adopted as
college texts. The company is now expanding into fiction, poetry, self-help, travel, and religion.

The company founder, Bruce Moran, is a former NASA IT professional and school computer instructor
who started TotalRecall to produce exam prep guides to accompany his pioneering BeachFront Quizzer
computerized practice test engine. During the 1990’s the Quizzer CD was included in the computer
certification study guides produced by such publishers as Wiley and McGraw-Hill.

TotalRecall is located in Friendswood, Texas, near Houston, and distributes books through Ingram Book
Company, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Powell’s and other booksellers, and
electronically distributed to libraries, corporations and government agencies by NetLibrary, ebrary, and
Books24x7.com. For more information, visit www.TotalRecallPress.com or call 888-992.3131.

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 A SAMPLING OF POEMS FROM CRACKED
By Alice Shapiro

A Wretched Reversal Obama in New Hampshire

A woman hangs You, extending words

up from a telephone and arms, a TV politician.
and warm autumn’s walk The screen shifts
and magazine to the crowd,
and coffee shop the faithful applauding
and dentist. while others slink off,
Monday exits. their party split--
Day spins intellect or passion.
with purpose. And you jawing
There is ample toward heaven--
time to fall, yet sweat and fables,
no one lands. thunder-spun, drugged
Rivers exit their journey. with adrenalin. Your
Not one stops. followers cross
An exit is not to glory staring
an end, and certainly into your eyes.
not the beginning. Caught between
Magazines will be the promise and the fate,
delivered and a cold they wait to march
walk replace the warm. beyond even your
Exits no longer alarm. earth-bound dreams.

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Whisperers Morass

Mother, daughter, The spider spins

you whisper well, a gossamer web.
telling secrets, For all we learn
counting lies, of weaving we’re
dwelling beneath caught in labyrinths
shadowy eyes, we did not contemplate.
afloat in solace. Flies, enigmas.
Heads together Escapades, bewilderment.
you smile wide Environment
while speaking closed of complexities.
in undertones, The net of words
not spreading words that grip us.
for general hearing --
I yearn to listen. The tulle of sneers,
the meshwork to
More than ever ensnare each other,
helpful turns, making patterns
spare talk, umbrage, in a marriage
heady and fruitful, that cannot break.
and every thought When the grave
grows full and flowers preponderates,
with worthy dialogue. the web unravels,
a frayed material
once gently looped
splits like cobwebs violated.