Points of Departure: Poems

By Miller Williams

Book Overview

"One of our very finest
poets in full stride." -- HarvardReview, on Adjusting
to the Light
A 1995 recipient of the Academy
Award in Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Miller
Williams is one of America's best known and loved poets. He also has won
the prestigious Poets' Prize; the Amy Lowell Award in Poetry, presented
by Harvard University; the Prix de Rome for Literature from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters, and many others.
Williams's newest collection
is built of the idiom of ordinary speech. Mostly narrative and dramatic,
these indelible poems are populated by individuals who go about their
lives much as all of us do; in fear of pain and loneliness, in hope of
something like love. The breath of Williams's talent gives them life,
his honesty and precision make them unforgettable.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252064518
• ISBN13: 9780252064517
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Better than the inaugural poem

I watched the Clinton second inaugural primarily to hear Miller Williams read the poem he had been asked to write. I was disappointed. The poem seemed self-consciously "occasional" and maybe even a desperation effort raked from the shallows as the prospect of a second Clinton term simply failed to inspire. There are several excellent efforts in "Points of Departure", however, that might have served well enough for the occasion. Although it is not one he could have read that day, I suggest that you will see Williams at his best in a small poem called "Deadsong for a Neighbor Child Who Ran away in the Woods." Sadly, it may say more about the soul of America than Williams' self-conscious effort to entertain the assembled Democrats last January