Living on the Surface

Miller Williams (1930-2015) was the author, editor, or translator of several books, including, Patterns of Poetry: An Encyclopedia of Forms and Making a Poem: Some Thoughts about Poetry and the People Who Write It. Among his many honors are the Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship in Poetry from Harvard University, the Poets' Prize, the Prix de Rome for Literature, and the Academy Award for Literature, the latter two both from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was inaugural poet for Bill Clinton's second swearing-in as president, and he is the father of three-time Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Lucinda Williams.