Four Valley Poets

The poets -- two students and two teachers at Los Angeles Valley College -- are remarkable. Excerpts from John Zounes's brilliant and incisive essay capture the essence of their work.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)." "Reading Terence Martin is like being forced to hitch a ride . . . and along comes this erratic driver who offers a trip along with the ride. You didn't want the trip, just the ride, but, . . . they're one and the same, so you sit back and enjoy both." 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." "Reading Bill Wallis is a little like watching the needle tremble on a seismograph." "The intensity with which Wallis examines . . . his unique interior world . . . urges readers to delve more deeply into their own unique interiors."Marth, Michael is the author of 'Four Valley Poets' with ISBN 9780962703102 and ISBN 0962703109.