WASHINGTON -- Miller Williams has studied biology and zoology,sold furniture at Sears and peddled tires at Montgomery Ward. He'staught English literature in Mexico and spent a fair amount of time"just kicking around" the world. "You might say I trained in theschool of life," he says.
But world travel and salesmanship aside, nothing prepared the66-year-old Arkansas poet for the rush of attention that hassurrounded him since he was selected to write a poem for PresidentClinton's inauguration. Williams will read 40 lines of metered verseat the swearing-in ceremony on Monday before a television audience ofabout 200 million people.
"I feel lucky and honored and somewhat daunted," Williams saidduring a telephone interview from his home in Fayetteville, Ark.,where he is a professor of English and foreign languages at theUniversity of Arkansas."I take the challenge very seriously. When someone accepts acommission of this sort, one enters the public domain. A part of mebelongs to the American people right now," he said.Just a few weeks ago, Williams was living the quiet,semi-obscure life of a university professor in a small town, knownprimarily in the world of letters as a distinguished translator andas the editor of the University of Arkansas Press. All that changedwhen he was tapped by the White House last month as the third poetcommissioned to read at an inaugural.He follows Robert Frost, who read at President Kennedy'scelebration, and Maya Angelou, who performed four years ago atClinton's first inaugural. Angelou's long poem, "On the Pulse of theMorning," was later published and went on to become a bestseller, nosmall feat in the publishing industry."We had many, many, many requests for Maya Angelou's work fouryears ago," said Louisa Solano, owner of Grolier Poetry Bookshop inCambridge. "We haven't had any requests for Miller yet, but I guesswe better stay well stocked."But Williams, who has written 26 volumes of poetry andcriticism, isn't concerned about future sales or about the instantfame and media attention. He simply wants to fine-tune his poem andsay something significant in the process."It's just about finished, but I'm still nailing down someboards on it," he explained. "All I can say is that it's not aboutan occasion, the president or an inauguration. It's about theAmerican people -- where we have been and where we might hope togo."Williams' own peripatetic journey has been marked by serendipitysince he was born the son of a Methodist minister in the small townof Hoxie, Ark. He started out as an English major at Arkansas StateUniversity but switched to biology at the suggestion of a schoolpsychologist."In those days, all students were tested to see what theiraptitude was, and the psychologist told me that if I didn't want toembarrass my parents, I should get out of English and switch over toscience," Williams recalled. "I did it because I respected myelders."He went on to earn a master's degree in zoology at theUniversity of Arkansas and to teach science at Wesleyan College inMacon, Ga. But he soon discovered that the psychologist was wrong:He quit his teaching post and took a job at Sears to support his wifeand three children.Williams spent six years as the head of the furniture departmentbefore heading off to the prestigious Breadloaf Writers Conference inVermont, where he met Frost, who encouraged the aspiring young poet.That was 1961. While developing his art, he earned the rent as asalesman at Montgomery Ward.Eventually, he landed various teaching jobs, including a stintat Loyola University in New Orleans, where he founded the New OrleansReview. He quit when university officials tried to censor hispublication. On the same day, he was offered the job of FulbrightProfessor of American Studies at the University of Mexico. "The manwho had the job had suddenly dropped dead, and I got a letter sayingthey were looking for a poet who could speak Spanish and wasn't dead.I got the job."He came full circle back to the University of Arkansas in 1971,where he met a young law professor named William Jefferson Clinton."I assumed that my casual acquaintance with the president would makeit less likely that they would ever pick me," said Williams, who wassurprised when the White House called him with the news. "We servedon the same faculty; I'm from his home state. I thought they wouldreach out beyond that."But fellow poet and translator Richard Wilbur said Williams is anatural for the high-profile position. "When we pick people forthese sorts of things, we ought to pick the heavy hitters," Wilbursaid during an interview from his home in Key West. "It's a toughassignment, but Miller Williams is one of the two or three people whocan measure up to it."
Ark. poet to take center stage
WASHINGTON -- Miller Williams has studied biology and zoology,sold furniture at Sears and peddled tires at Montgomery Ward. He'staught English literature in Mexico and spent a fair amount of time"just kicking around" the world. "You might say I trained in theschool of life," he says.
But world travel and salesmanship aside, nothing prepared the66-year-old Arkansas poet for the rush of attention that hassurrounded him since he was selected to write a poem for PresidentClinton's inauguration. Williams will read 40 lines of metered verseat the swearing-in ceremony on Monday before a television audience ofabout 200 million people.
"I feel lucky and honored and somewhat daunted," Williams saidduring a telephone interview from his home in Fayetteville, Ark.,where he is a professor of English and foreign languages at theUniversity of Arkansas."I take the challenge very seriously. When someone accepts acommission of this sort, one enters the public domain. A part of mebelongs to the American people right now," he said.Just a few weeks ago, Williams was living the quiet,semi-obscure life of a university professor in a small town, knownprimarily in the world of letters as a distinguished translator andas the editor of the University of Arkansas Press. All that changedwhen he was tapped by the White House last month as the third poetcommissioned to read at an inaugural.He follows Robert Frost, who read at President Kennedy'scelebration, and Maya Angelou, who performed four years ago atClinton's first inaugural. Angelou's long poem, "On the Pulse of theMorning," was later published and went on to become a bestseller, nosmall feat in the publishing industry."We had many, many, many requests for Maya Angelou's work fouryears ago," said Louisa Solano, owner of Grolier Poetry Bookshop inCambridge. "We haven't had any requests for Miller yet, but I guesswe better stay well stocked."But Williams, who has written 26 volumes of poetry andcriticism, isn't concerned about future sales or about the instantfame and media attention. He simply wants to fine-tune his poem andsay something significant in the process."It's just about finished, but I'm still nailing down someboards on it," he explained. "All I can say is that it's not aboutan occasion, the president or an inauguration. It's about theAmerican people -- where we have been and where we might hope togo."Williams' own peripatetic journey has been marked by serendipitysince he was born the son of a Methodist minister in the small townof Hoxie, Ark. He started out as an English major at Arkansas StateUniversity but switched to biology at the suggestion of a schoolpsychologist."In those days, all students were tested to see what theiraptitude was, and the psychologist told me that if I didn't want toembarrass my parents, I should get out of English and switch over toscience," Williams recalled. "I did it because I respected myelders."He went on to earn a master's degree in zoology at theUniversity of Arkansas and to teach science at Wesleyan College inMacon, Ga. But he soon discovered that the psychologist was wrong:He quit his teaching post and took a job at Sears to support his wifeand three children.Williams spent six years as the head of the furniture departmentbefore heading off to the prestigious Breadloaf Writers Conference inVermont, where he met Frost, who encouraged the aspiring young poet.That was 1961. While developing his art, he earned the rent as asalesman at Montgomery Ward.Eventually, he landed various teaching jobs, including a stintat Loyola University in New Orleans, where he founded the New OrleansReview. He quit when university officials tried to censor hispublication. On the same day, he was offered the job of FulbrightProfessor of American Studies at the University of Mexico. "The manwho had the job had suddenly dropped dead, and I got a letter sayingthey were looking for a poet who could speak Spanish and wasn't dead.I got the job."He came full circle back to the University of Arkansas in 1971,where he met a young law professor named William Jefferson Clinton."I assumed that my casual acquaintance with the president would makeit less likely that they would ever pick me," said Williams, who wassurprised when the White House called him with the news. "We servedon the same faculty; I'm from his home state. I thought they wouldreach out beyond that."But fellow poet and translator Richard Wilbur said Williams is anatural for the high-profile position. "When we pick people forthese sorts of things, we ought to pick the heavy hitters," Wilbursaid during an interview from his home in Key West. "It's a toughassignment, but Miller Williams is one of the two or three people whocan measure up to it."
