Moon Beams #4 - Denton Loving

I met my friend Denton the night I read at our mutual friend J.D. Isip’s release party for his 2nd book Reluctant Prophets at Moon Tide Press at the end of March

We quickly clicked in a way that made it clear that there was always going to be something for us to riff, praise, worry, or laugh about.

I knew I'd ask him to be on Moon Beams, and was delighted that he not only agreed, but made this one extra interesting by flipping the tables on me with a word association challenge of his own.

Per usual we had plenty to talk about, among them the influence of Sylvia Woods, George Ella Lyon, and Jane Hicks on Denton's work, the thrill and promise of young people keeping the current state of poetry alive and well, and the imminent release of Denton's new book, Feller, by Mercer University Press on August 5th.

He was also kind enough to share the following lines by David B. Prather "Spending the Night Alone," from his book Bending Light with Bare Hands at Fernwood Press, a fragment as strong in imagery as it is in a subtle sense of hope Prather reaches for, and seems to push the reader to reach for as well:

"If I had wings, I would be

a nightbird.

and I would sing to bring

down the stars.  One by one,

they would fall.  I could

gather them, all unwished."

Many thanks and hugs again to Denton, much more to come soon, read more poetry and happy trails, everybody.