After a Lost Original.(Brief Article)

Relying heavily upon the imagery offered in dreams, Shapiro (Lateness) applies a skill siomilar to what he's learned from his work as a translator, shuffling and scrambling words until they make sense. At his best, he manipulates flat, simplistic and familiar language into subtle new meanings, as in his variation of the Lord's Prayer: "Give up this day, give us one day, give it / Like water, and also give us water." Some of his best pieces probe religion's built-in wordplay. He not only personifies inanimate objects, but entrusts them with a poet's …