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1
T
otal
R
ecall
 
P
ublications, Inc
. 
www.totalrecallpress.com
 
1103 Middlecreek 281-992-3131Friendswood, Texas 77546 888-992-3131
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Terri Mitchem 352-596-1192Or mtmitchem@aol.com
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 writespoetry is a poet. As one local New York poet laureate observes in his preface to this new book by aprize-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 learnnew ways to use the familiar ones! For those who crave word music, there aremoments 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 complexrelationships we have with each other and the world. As she examines with keen insights the cracks inher inner and outer worlds, she draws readers into quiet contemplation of the obvious and subtle cracksin their own.Connie Post, Poet Laureate of Livermore, CA, also praises
Ms. Shapiro’s
abilities in her advance reviewof 
Cracked:
With strong images and gripping words, the poems in this book compel us tolook at the ordinary and the extraordinary in our own lives. The eloquent useof 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 h
er poem, “A Wretched Reversal: “There is ample/ time to fall, yet/ no onelands.” 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 objectswhich allow us to picture her thoughts
—but a skilled music as well. Even in “Morass:” “Thespider spins/ a gossamer web./ For all we learn/ of weaving, we’re/ caught in labyrinths/ we did
not con
template.”
Attached here is a sampling of four poems from
Cracked 
, including one entitled “Obama in NewHampshire.”
 
But we’re sure you’
ll find your own favorites as you savor every page of this small lyricalgem.The book is scheduled for publication on June 2, 2009 and will be available in bookstores and throughonline booksellers.
About the Author:
Alice Shapiro has been writing since 1985 when she studied under William Packard at New YorkUniversity. 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.
Shelives in Atlanta.
About the Book:
Cracked: Timeless Topics of Nature, Courage, and Endurance
, Alice ShapiroISBN 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, includingcomputer and financial certification exam preparation and library education, with many titles adopted ascollege 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
, andelectronically distributed to libraries, corporations and government agencies by NetLibrary, ebrary, andBooks24x7.com. For more information, visitwww.TotalRecallPress.comor 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 wordsup from a telephone and arms, a TV politician.
and warm autumn’s walk
The screen shiftsand magazine to the crowd,and coffee shop the faithful applaudingand dentist. while others slink off,Monday exits. their party split--Day spins intellect or passion.with purpose. And you jawingThere is ample toward heaven--time to fall, yet sweat and fables,no one lands. thunder-spun, druggedRivers exit their journey. with adrenalin. YourNot one stops. followers crossAn exit is not to glory staringan end, and certainly into your eyes.not the beginning. Caught betweenMagazines will be the promise and the fate,delivered and a cold they wait to marchwalk replace the warm. beyond even yourExits no longer alarm. earth-bound dreams.
of 00

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