E. Ethelbert Miller has been breathing poetry and fire into the poetry world for more than 35 years. He believes that words matter and that they can change the world; and so he sets about doing that in the guise of personal and intimate verse. But each whisper packs a punch and so his love/ family/ and historical writings are about social justice and individual freedom for all. That's why we're proud to present these poems by a leader in our poetry republic. -Grace Cavalieri

E. Ethelbert Miller is a writer and literary activist. He was born in 1950 and grew-up in New York City. A graduate of Howard University, he was one of the first students at that institution to major in African American Studies. Today he is the board chair of the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank located in Washington, D.C. Miller is the director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University. He is editor of POET LORE, the oldest poetry magazine published in the United States. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature from Emory and Henry College. Mr. Miller has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist Program Fellow in 2004 and 2012.

Miller is the founder and former chair of the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. The author of several collections of poetry, he has also written two memoirs, FATHERING WORDS: THE MAKING OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITER (2000) and THE 5TH INNING (2009). FATHERING WORDS was selected by the D.C. Public Library for its DC WE READ, one book, one city program in 2003. In 2013, FATHERING WORDS will be released as an E book by Black Classic Press. Recently Mr. Miller began serving as host and producer of the television show THE SCHOLARS which airs on UDC-TV. In August 2012, he started writing E ON DC, a monthly newspaper column published by Capital Community News.

Mr. Miller’s poetry has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hungarian, Chinese, Farsi, Norwegian, Tamil and Arabic.

Mr. Miller has taught at UNLV, American University, George Mason University, and Emory and Henry College. For several years he was a core faculty member with the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Mr. Miller is often heard on National Public Radio.

After Phillis Wheatley Sailed

To England

CLASS STRUGGLE WITH WINGS

TAKING FLIGHT WITH MY IMAGINATION

MORNING

© E. Ethelbert Miller, all rights reserved

These poems by E. Ethelbert Miller have been published in: The Delmarva Review, Saranac Review, and Huizache.