Song And Dance: Poems – An Intimate Account of Catastrophic Loss and the Complicated Journey Through Family Grief

by Alan Shapiro

The poems in Alan Shapiro's seventh collection, Song and Dance, intimately describe the complicated feelings that attend the catastrophic loss of a loved one. In 1998, Shapiro's brother, David, an actor on Broadway, was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer. Song and Dance recounts the poet's emotional journey through the last months of his brother's life, exploring feelings too often ignored in official accounts of grief: horror, relief, impatience, exhaustion, exhilaration, fear, self-criticism, fulfillment.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Alan Shapiro (born 1952) is an American poet and professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of nine poetry books, including Tantalus in Love, Song and Dance, and The Dead Alive and Busy.

In addition to poetry, Alan Shapiro has also published two personal memoirs, Vigil and The Last Happy Occasion.
(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Katie • forevermorepages · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, I kid you not, the best poetry book I have ever read. I would never have read it on my own since it's not that famous, so I'm incredibly grateful that I was required to read it for my creative writing class. It's truly a remarkable piece of literature.

I don't have a ton else to say because it's poetry, so I don't think it really requires a long, full review from me. But if you're looking for a study of grief, of the before death part of grief, I highly recommend it.

tw: death, cancer, death of a loved one

-Book Hugger

[Kasandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't expect to see a poem titled "Joy" in a book about death (amazing poem, btw), but Shapiro investigates every emotion imaginable upon the impending death of his brother (and also touches on the death of his sister only a few years prior). You know from personal experience of grief that these must have been incredibly painful and difficult poems to write, yet they have such an elegance and intentionality, even a playfulness at times, that it's clear Shapiro was keen to create the fullest picture possible of his brother, their relationship, and their places within the family as he was writing and grieving. "Up Against" was one of my favorites, capturing both the rivalry and the sweetness of that rivalry between siblings in a succinct exploration. "Fly" is a metaphysical meditation on the body and similarly impressive. There is a tremendous range of emotion here, all of it clear-eyed and all of it necessary. "Three Questions" is one of the best poems I've ever read on the subject of death and the questions it brings, and "The Old Man" is wrenching. An amazing book.

[Kassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those poetry books/poets I've never really heard of. I randomly picked up this book outside of a bookstore that had piles of $1 books and I'm so glad it found me. I have never experienced a close loss especially one from a battle with cancer but Alan Shapiro opened my eyes to his raw, rollercoaster of emotions. I felt like I was his friend watching him as he experienced his brother's loss.

I am also extremely new to poetry and I found this wasn't difficult at all to read. However, it didn't take away from the depth and realness of it all.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who has ever loved anyone and has even a passing interest in poetry should read this book. Shapiro’s gift for being raw and vulnerable (some might say “authentic”) without sacrificing craft is something you just have to experience for yourself.

[Mia Kalish · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful writing, heart wrenching story

[Ambrose Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot about death and dying, said poetically, about the poets brother, a very personal tribute.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Song and Dance tells the story of Shapiro’s brother’s illness and death from brain cancer, starting with his diagnosis. Shapiro’s writing is raw in a take-no-prisoners manner. He writes the rarely acknowledged emotions of grief, such as anger and rage, and portrays honest snippets of illness and dying that aren’t pretty or peaceful.
“What did it mean, the moaning? Or could you even
call it a moan, what bore no trace of a voice
we could recognize as his?”
(The Big Screen)

Shapiro’s brother was an actor, a Broadway song and dance man. Many of the poems contain allusions to show business and classic show tunes. The opening poem, “Everything the Traffic Will Allow,” has the young brothers lip-syncing to Ethel Merman while their parents cheer them on. Later, in “Broadway Revival,” Shapiro says
“I play
the brother
who doesn’t know his lines”

Shapiro is known as a formalist poet, and the forms he uses in this collection serve the subject. Some of the poems use short, almost staccato lines, placed at various points on the page. There is a tension, a sense of containment, to the placement that emphasizes the unpredictability of life and the unfairness of illness and death.
“Can’t eat, can’t drink, can’t do a
thing except just lie
in bed before the TV
he’s too sick to watch”
(The Phone Call)

Song and Dance is much more than a collection about a brother’s death; it is a story of family and memory, a song for a sibling’s life.
“You should have
heard him,
his voice was
unforgettable, irresistible, his voice
was an imaginary garden
woven through with fragrance.”
(Song and Dance)

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart-wrenching poems about the premature passing of the poet's older brother. Beautiful, but hard to read. Shapiro's gift is forcing you to his position, to his grief, which suddenly becomes your own.

[Timothy Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. Shapiro is just as good in Old War, but this book is so moving, so honest, and has the crisp, perfect feeling of a book that couldn't have a single word cut.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful and heartbreaking book that deals with some of the raw emotions tied to death and dying.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Shapiro successfully does what so many others have failed to, incorporate song lyrics into poetry without making it seem overly-contrived.

[Steve Mossberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crisp, fresh and unaffected verse on painful topic matter. Profoundly moving.