Obituary Note: Poet Miller Williams

Shelf Awareness

Poet Miller Williams, "who championed the power of everyday language and who delivered a poem at the Capitol for President Bill Clinton's second inauguration," died January 1, the New York Times reported. He was 84. Williams wrote, translated or edited more than 30 books, including a dozen poetry collections. He was also the founding director of the University of Arkansas Press.

In a 2013 interview with the Oxford American, Williams said: " I've enjoyed all the years I've lived in Arkansas, and was pleased--once I started writing--at how well my poems are received here. A reviewer said, a few years ago, that 'Miller Williams is the Hank Williams of American poetry because, though his poems are discussed in classrooms at Princeton and Harvard, they're read, understood, and appreciated by squirrel hunters and taxi drivers.' "