Jim Wayne Miller

Jim Wayne Miller Jim Wayne Miller Brown he is Humphrey Bogart with brown wood eyes. Smooth he goes and flows and slips from place to place gracefully, holding out his look to pull in listeners "You see" then holds us. Shy mountain man; head full of sense, tender in word, tough in work and hide. Wears his feelings maybe on the sleeve but they never stain his shirt. And one wonders, with such a man so controlled, composed, how is he when the fires rage inside lick the ruffles of a skirt. -Artie Ann Bates Editor's Note: Jim Wayne Miller is a professor at Western Kentucky University, a poet, scholar, writer, lecturer, authority onAppalachia and itspeople. He is on the staff of the Appalachian Writers Workshop at Hindman Settlement School each August. I met Bates at the Workshop last year; she sent this poem lastfall. 12 ...