UA POET MILLER WILLIAMS INVITED TO READ AT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At the invitation of U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, acclaimed University of Arkansas poet Miller Williams will present a reading of his work at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

The event will occur March 21 as part of the Library of Congress Spring 2002 Literary Program — one of the oldest reading series in the nation. As host of the program, Collins says he invited Williams out of admiration for the poet’s work as well as appreciation of the poet, himself.

"One of the great advantages of being the Poet Laureate is that I get to invite people to read at the Library of Congress," Collins stated. "Not only does that give exposure to young and under-appreciated poets, but it’s a chance to acknowledge the poets who have played a significant role in my own life and work. Miller is like a literary father figure to me."

Collins and Williams have known each other for more than a decade and are mutual admirers of each other’s work. As director of the University of Arkansas Press, Williams published one of Collins’ first collections in 1988, "The Apple that Astonished Paris."

The reading on March 21 represents Williams’ second appearance at the Library of Congress. The literary series first featured him in 1972, reading his work alongside legendary poet John Ciardi, at the invitation of then-Poet Laureate Josephine Jacobsen. This year, Williams will share the stage with Carolyn Kizer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former director of the Literature Program at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Williams was a relatively unknown writer at the time of his first appearance. But over the past 30 years, his reputation has soared, with his work attracting national and international acclaim. His poetry has been translated into at least seven languages, and in 1997 Williams served as the inaugural poet for Bill Clinton’s second presidential term.

But as Williams’ career evolved, so did his poetry. The mark of his craft has always been the arrangement of simple words into language that sings and which, in singing, resonates a deeper meaning. Though that approach to poetry remains the same, Williams has streamlined the execution. This year, his listeners will hear a body of work more trim and assured than the poetry he presented to his first Library of Congress audience.

"I think my poetry is leaner than it used to be. That is, I use fewer words to say the same things. That’s almost always an improvement," Williams said. "I like to think that words have had to work harder and harder to beg their way into my poems."

In selecting the poems he’ll read, Williams says he will offer a series of brief works — no more than about half a page each. He feels short poems engage the audience without demanding too great an effort of concentration. Also, he modestly suggests that it comforts listeners to know that if they don’t care for a poem, "it won’t be too long before it’s over."

In addition to choosing brief poems, Williams will showcase works with strong dramatic content and vivid characters. Rather than expecting the audience to follow an esoteric argument, Williams’ poetry conveys an idea by making a scene. Listeners relate to a poem when the conflicts and drives of its characters reflect their own experiences, Williams said, and tapping into those experiences is what enables a poet to communicate to people, whether on the page or from the podium.

"A poem is an event that comes into existence when the imagination, emotion and intellect of a reader confront the imagination, emotion and intellect of a poet inside an act of language," Williams explained. "The poet and the reader make the poem together."

According to Williams, every successful poem begins as the poet’s and ends as the reader’s. He means that in reading or hearing a poem, each person unravels the poem’s meaning within himself, using the tools of his own imagination and interpretation. The result, from one perspective, is a highly subjective art. But from a different perspective, poetry becomes a gift — unique because it is fully given yet still completely shared.

This sharing is heightened when poetry ventures off the written page and is spoken, Collins said. He believes the tradition of literary readings and recitations reflects a desire to take in poetry communally — that through sharing poetry, people share more than an appreciation for art; they share experience.

"The typical audience for poetry are those who read it at home, quietly and alone. But poetry readings offer a break from that isolation," Collins said. "Poetry may be contemplative, but it’s not an art of solitude. It can be experienced in community and companionship, and sometimes it should be."

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