This first published volume shows Wallenstein to be a finely disciplined versifier. The poems are tightly controlled and skillfully honed to six or seven syllables (sometimes more or less) to the line. In the typical poem there are up to a couple of dozen lines of no more than 100 words all told. Wallenstein therefore fits into the company of Reg Saner, David McKain, and most notably Linda Pastan among his contemporaries. His diction, which is resolutely simple and straightforward, is given a sudden twist by unexpectedly elusive phrases or shifts in tone, manifesting clearly the poet’s vaguely threatening; what little love there is gives no comfort or assurance. In sum, the context of the poems is recognizably contemporary and urban. A promising first volume, recommended for collections of present-day poets.