THE WAYS WE TOUCH

Includes

        "Of History and Hope,"

        the 1997 Presidential Inaugural Poem

      When Miller Williams

        read his Inaugural Poem, "Of History and Hope," to a world-wide

        audience in January, his proverbial "fifteen minutes of fame"

        lasted far less--somewhere between three and four minutes. That was long

        enough to make a big impact on many. Said poet Paul Zimmer, one of the

        millions in his viewing audience, "I came up out of my Lazy-Boy and

        cheered loudly!"

      Williams is an

        American original whose poems have been praised for both the elegance

        of their style and the simplicity of their language, for their wonderful

        humor and genuine passion. The works in his newest collection, The

        Ways We Touch, may be nostalgic or challenging, humorous or full of

        moral fortitude; always Williams speaks with the kind of insight that

        rises from wisdom and experience.

      Praise for Williams's

        earlier work:

      "Miller

        Williams is one of those writers whose books drag me snorkeling happily

        along. Happy as a pig among truffles, I hurry to the next treasure."

        -- William Stafford

      "Most contemporary

        poets might well go to him for lessons in the art of speaking plainly

        in disciplined lines alive with emotional energy." -- X. J. Kennedy

      "Better

        than almost anything else being published." -- Donald Justice