Influences and Contemporaries

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The Objectivists. Though Shapiro did not consider himself an Objectivist poet, he was mentored and influenced by them, and many critics aligned him with the movement. See:

• William Carlos Williams
• Paul Blackburn
• Armand Schwerner
• Robert Hershon
• Hugh Seidman
• Bill Zavatsky
• George Oppen
• Charles Reznikoff
• Louis Zukofsky
• Karl Rakosi

Jazz. Of Sights Along The Harbor, Norman Finkelstein wrote: “What Shapiro can do with the first-person, anecdotal mode is close kin to a jazz master’s version of an old standard.” The cadence of Shapiro’s poems recall such masters. See:

• Charlie Shavers
• Louis Armstrong
• Thelonius Monk
• Earl Hines

Jewish life. Shapiro spoke Yiddish as a child, and one of the most important themes in his work was his own Jewish roots. Several historical Jewish figures from history recur in his poetry.

• Nachman of Breslov
• Martin Buber
• Gershom Scholem

New York City poets. In an interview with Galen Williams for The Brooklyn Rail, Shapiro named “urban poetry, city poetry” as one of the most important aspects of his work. Living and working in Manhattan and Brooklyn, he encountered other poets–both physically and through history–who anchored him to the city.

• Hart Crane
• E. E. Cummings
• Walt Whitman
• Djuna Barnes
• May Swensen
• Phillip Lopate
• Ron Padgett

Other influences:

• The West Village
• Patchin Place
• Mid-Century New Criticism