Like a River

About the Book

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, TTERRY@att.net

About the Author

The river of Michael Riley (Mick) Denington’s life has meandered through some thirty-odd ports across the United States with calls in Germany and Vietnam, and visits to more than twenty other countries and islands.  He earned a high school diploma after attending eight schools in five states.  Mick holds a Bachelor of Science in math, physics and chemistry (Murray State University), a Master of  Public Administration (Auburn University at Montgomery), and a major in meteorology (University of Oklahoma).  After a twenty-four year Air Force career, he retired with the rank of colonel.  He was subsequently a corporate vice president, then taught high school mathematics.

Mick’s route to poetry began when outflow from an artesian spring of childhood wordplay mixed with the rhythm of spoken southern English.  Similar outflows of music, mathematics, discipline, and scientific curiosity joined in, forming a river of poetry.

                Mick’s poetry has won numerous contests and found its way into local, regional, national and international publications.  He has conducted numerous poetry workshops, and frequently been asked to judge contests and critique the work of other poets.

                In addition to writing, Mick has been active in writers’ organizations, serving as president of The Tennessee Writers’ Alliance, The Poetry Society of Tennessee and the Mid-South Writers’ Association.

                He and his wife, Marilyn, live in Bartlett, Tennessee.