David Shapiro (poet)

For others with this name, see David Shapiro (disambiguation).

David Shapiro
Born	(1947-01-02) January 2, 1947
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	American

David Shapiro (born January 2, 1947) is an American poet, literary critic, and art historian. He has written some twenty volumes of poetry, literary, and art criticism. He was first published at the age of thirteen, and his first book was published when he was just eighteen.

Education and teaching

Václav Havel, Shirley Temple Black, David Shapiro and John Hejduk,
Prague, 3 September 1991

Memorial plaque in Prague with the Shapiro′s poem "The Funeral of Jan Palach".

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Shapiro grew up in Newark and attended Weequahic High School before matriculating at Columbia University at the age of 16 (with the assistance of Kenneth Koch), from which he holds a B.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. (1973) in English. Between 1968-1970, he studied at the University of Cambridge on a Kellett Fellowship, from which he holds an M.A. with honors. Having previously taught at Columbia (in the Department of English and Comparative Literature), Princeton University, and Brooklyn College, Shapiro teaches poetry and literature at Cooper Union and is currently the William Paterson professor of art history at William Paterson University.

He achieved brief notoriety during the 1968 student uprising at Columbia, when he was photographed sitting behind the desk of President Grayson L. Kirk wearing dark glasses and smoking a cigar; Shapiro later described the cigar as "horrible".

Works

Shapiro's writing includes a monograph on John Ashbery, a book on Jim Dine’s paintings, a book on Piet Mondrian’s flower studies, and a book on Jasper Johns’ drawings. He has translated Rafael Alberti’s poems on Pablo Picasso, and the writings of the Sonia and Robert Delaunay.

His sonnets on the death of Socrates are the basis for Unwritten, a song cycle by Mohammed Fairouz.

List of works

• January: A Book of Poems–Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965
• Poems From Deal–E P Dutton, 1969
• An Anthology of New York Poets (co-editor)–Random House, 1970
• A Man Holding an Acoustic Panel–E P Dutton, 1971 (National Book Award Nominee)
• The Page Turner–Liveright, 1973
• Lateness: A Book of Poems–Overlook/Viking, 1977
• Introduction to John Ashbery’s Poetry–Columbia University Press, 1979
• The Writings of Sonia and Robert Delaunay (co-translator)–Viking, 1979
• Jim Dine–Abrams, 1981; Alecta Press (German edition and translation)
• Lateness (Watercolors by Lucio Pozzi)–Generations Press, Paris, 1981
• To An Idea–Overlook/Viking, 1984
• Jasper Johns–Abrams, 1984
• House (Blown Apart): A Book of Poems–Overlook/Viking, 1988
• Mondrian: Flowers–Abrams, 1991
• The Selected Poems of Jacques Dupin (co-translator)–Wake Forest, 1992
• The Eight Names of Picasso (co-translator)–Gas Station Editions, 1992
• After A Lost Original (etching by Terry Winters)–Solo Press, 1992
• The Green Lake is Awake: The Selected Poems of Joseph Ceravolo (co-editor)–CoffeeHouse Press, 1994
• After A Lost Original–Overlook Press, 1994
• Inventory: New & Selected Poems (editor) by Frank Lima-Hard Press, 1997
• Body of Prayer (Shapiro, Michal Govrin, Derrida)–Cooper Union Press, 2001
• A Burning Interior–Overlook Press, 2002
• Rabbit Duck (Collaborative with Richard Hell) – Repair, 2005
• New and Selected Poems (1965–2006)–Overlook Press, 2007
• In Memory of an Angel -City Lights Publishers, 2017 ISBN 9780872867130

Awards

Shapiro has won National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, been nominated for a National Book Award, and been the recipient of numerous grants for his work.

List of fellowships, honors, awards and grants

• Gotham Book Mart Avant-Garde Poetry Award–1962
• Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Robert Frost Fellow–1965
• Ingram Merrill Foundation Grant–1967
• Book of the Month Club Writing Award–1968
• Clare College, Cambridge University–Kellett Fellowship, Awarded by Columbia College–1968–1970
• Woodrow Wilson Fellowship–1970
• Clare College, Cambridge University–First Honors, Book Prize, Scholar–1970
• Columbia University, NDEA Grant–1970–1971
• National Book Award, Nominated–1971
• Creative Artists Public Service Grant–1973
• Council for the Humanities, Grants–1973, 1976, 1978
• Columbia University, Chamberlain Fellowship–1976
• American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Zabel Prize–1977
• National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship–1979–1980
• National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Writing–1980
• Princeton University, Faculty Fellow–1985–1986
• National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellow, USCS at Santa Cruz–1987
• Asia Society Colophon Award–1998
• Graham Foundation Grant–1990
• The America Awards for Literature, Belles Lettres–The Green Lake is Awake: Selected Poems of Joseph Ceravolo (Co-Editor)–1994
• Fund for Poetry–1995
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, 1996

Personal life

Shapiro lives in Riverdale, The Bronx, New York City, with his wife and son.

Sources

• The Poetry of David Shapiro

Further reading

• Thomas Fink, The Poetry of David Shapiro, Farleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison & Teaneck, NJ, 1993; ISBN 0-8386-3495-8
• Thomas Fink & Joseph Lease, Burning Interiors: David Shapiro’s Poetry and Poetics, Farleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison & Teaneck, NJ, 2007; ISBN 978-0-8386-4155-2. Includes essays by Paul Hoover, Joanna Fuhrman, Stephen Paul Miller, Denise Duhamel, Noah Eli Gordon, Ron Silliman, Tim Peterson, Timothy Liu, more.
• New York Quarterly, Issue 65, has an extensive interview with David Shapiro.

External links

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• In the Presence of Genius: Rodger Kamenetz on New and Selected Poems review which appeared in the Jewish Daily Forward, July 18, 2007
• Annotated Torso of an Interview David Shapiro in conversation with Sam Lohmann, March 2009

Jacket magazine features

• Jacket Magazine, issue 23 this issue includes a David Shapiro Feature, with numerous links to essays, reviews, poems (6 poems from A Burning Interior), and an interview of Shapiro conducted by John Tranter
• The Terror of the Poet David Shapiro in conversation with Kent Johnson, an interview by email conducted in 2009
• A Conversation with Kenneth Koch Shapiro’s 1969 interview with the late Kenneth Koch.