Like a River

Michael Denington pays close attention. In straight forward language, each of these poems is a moment closely observed. As in the title poem, the author "seeks home" with a compassionate and generous heart. --Darnell Arnoult Author, What Travels with Us, and the novel, Sufficient Grace With an invitation to a "walk in the park" the author takes the reader on a journey in which he shares episodes of his life. The book provides lovely glimpses such as that of a woman kneeling in her flower garden while at work on her masterpiece. After enjoying many pauses . . . at a variety of places, we are brought to a stop following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "Empty Boots" vividly recalls the shock and grief of that hideous crime. On the whole, this book evokes enthusiastic response. Winifred Hamrick Farrar Poet Laureate of Mississippi. Whether Michael Denington is in a familiar setting drinking "the cool, sweet home flavored water" from a gourd, or backpacking high on a mountain where he sits "in awe of near touchable stars and an apple slice of moon," he is an acute observer, his memorable imagery hooking the reader. Denington's voice is straight forward, from his narrative poem about riding a stick horse as a child, through his very adult description of Memphis marinating "in a cold, damp bowl of discomfort." . . . Most of the poems are autobiographical with sketches of youth and home, travels abroad, war experiences, his wandering "through life's barriers, "to finally, now that he is older, "to drift southward . . . seeking home, to join my forebears in the fertile sediment of our familial delta." Clovita Rice Former editor of Voices International and former director of the Arkansas Writers' Conference Cover photograph, White River at Calico Rock, Arkansas by Terry Thompson, [email protected]