The Coast of Nowhere: Meditations on Rivers, Lakes, and Streams (Great Lakes Books)

In The Coast of Nowhere, Michael Delp explores the way rivers, lakes, and streams seep into our daily lives and into our consciousness. The organization of the text, a collection of short prose meditations and poetry, embraces the motion and rhythm of moving water. Through his poetry and prose, Delp demonstrates the way one can literally build an inner landscape out of the places of water one frequents. Having grown up on water and embraced it as a part of his being, he writes passionately about existing rivers, lakes, and streams in Michigan, and uses powerful metaphors to keep these places thriving in the imagination. The collection concludes with "What My Father Told Me", a powerful prose piece in which Delp reflects on the wisdom his father shared with him about the magic of water and of life during their fishing outings. Like Delp's other works, The Coast of Nowhere reveals the author's love for water and nature and captures the essence of northern Michigan's culture.

Michael Delp is the director of creative writing at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He is the author of Under the Influence of Water (1992) and Over the Graves of Horses (1988), both published by Wayne State University Press. His poetry and prose have appeared in numerous anthologies and publications, as well as in a handful of chapbooks.