Warbler

Steeped though it is in grief and loss, glory shines through in Jane Schapiro’s new poetry collection, Warbler. As she writes in the book’s epigraph, Tears are the soul bathing itself. There is much melancholy beauty in the book’s dirges, and toward the end, splendor has the last word. In the book’s penultimate poem, azaleas bloom in an explosion of color, from the dark tangle of shrubs / that spawned such a glorious sight. -Rennie McQuilkin, CT Poet Laureate (2015-2018)

Warbler, Jane Schapiro’s new book of poems, is an achingly beautiful paean to family, friendship, love, and memory. It is also a searing reminder that loss, illness, and grief must play their parts as well.

The book has an organic feel, from line to line, from poem to poem. We are pulled into human connection and human frailty. We hear the rabbi say, Even the blank spaces / are God given so we keep looking as we move into middle age for peace, for less anxiety, for less pain. Some days in the mirror, / she’ll spot her former self like a star, / reflecting a fire long since burned out. And then, the veil lifts, / reveals the world as a luminous bride … / Ah, sweet life. Sweet, inviting life. These poems stay in the mind and heart and invite rereading again and again. Warbler sings of hard and beautiful truths in a singular voice.

-Deirdre Neilen, Editor The Healing Muse