Poetry Mix

There is no theme, no focus in this mix — at least, none that we see. One book contains the work of four poets chosen for individual effectiveness; styles and subjects are quite different. Another volume contains poems on many subjects but was titled for verses about a wonderfully crowded and comfortable store (Dutton's Books) that prompts one to say with affection: "It's what today's chain stores are not." And we should get good marks for diversity with one volume that takes a Midwestern farm girl to maturity and another that blends a Persian girl's memories with adult American impressions.

Four Valley Poets:

Michael Marth, Terence Martin, Ann Stanton, William Wallis Introduction by John Zounes The poets — two students and two teachers at Los Angeles Valley College — are remarkable. Excerpts below from John Zounes's brilliant and incisive essay capture the essence of their work:

"The Valley, this sixth-largest city over the hill from the second-largest — soon to be the most congested — city north of the busy border; this materialistic mecca, this bulldozed rolled-back real-estate temple of the drive-in drive-through drive-out life — poetry flourishes here?"

"Yes, here."

Michael Marth is "in his own words a dark-side prober," one who "searches along the shoreline of human relationships — with neighbors, friends, lovers, family, even strangers (poets have some of their best relationships with strangers)."

Ann Stanton's "work is that of the realist. . . . Death, injustice, beauty, brutality, the almost-born —whatever her subject, her gaze is unflinching, steady, sure. She chooses, even in the most anguished setting, 'the full experience.' "

To get all of John Zounes's brilliant introduction and the poems
as evidence, click here.

Dutton's Books by William Wallis

This slender volume of lyric verse begins in a familiar cultural haven in the San Fernando Valley, the Dutton family's bookstore at Magnolia and Laurel Canyon: Piles of books and prints are vague mirrors in which The film of memory stretched out behind you appears.

Verses then move outward across hidden paths and through secret lives. They range as far as Chernobyl, Romania, and the desaparecidos of Argentina. The ordinary becomes precious, the stranger a lover, the lover a myth.

Yet I will remember when the dark cloud
Of your hair rocked my breath with
Its gentle motion, its raven strands
Catching the morning light as your lips
       Drank my honeyed flesh.

We're not giving you a line about those lines. Get them all by clicking here.

Traveling Inland by Flora Foss

The poet uses her keen eye to observe the peaks and valleys of her life and from her observations educates herself.        We are not bound        By moon, sun splintered in rooms,        The faces, flowers we put on,        Or by the offering of a cup. Nature is full of hard-won secrets signaled by the bird's cry, the soft crunch of the bare foot in snow. The poet traces the truth of her life from a withdrawn, rural childhood farm to the rich adulthood of mother and teacher.

Get the full experience by getting your own copy. Simply click here.

Eros

With an incisive introduction by Peter Marin, this collection
"walks around Eros, peers into one of its aspects or another,
engages Eros close to home and far away ...."

Mobile If our motion warmed the universe, Or time's end interrupted our dance, Would the rush of your breath cease beneath me? Were your eyes less rich, scent less sweet, Willowy body less splendid in surrender, Would our bed no longer rise and spin?

To take your trip to places where Eros may be found,
simply click here.

Eros

ISBN 0-9627031-3-3

Trade Paper 6x9

92 pages

$10.00

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