Author Archives: William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

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About William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Award-winning poet, playwright, and essayist. Author of three books of poetry, "Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present"; "Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats"; "The Black Feminine Mystique," and a novel, "Streets of Rage," written under his pen name Easy Waters. All four books are available on Amazon.com. Waters has over 25 years of experience in the criminal legal system. He is a change agent for a just society and a catalyst for change.

Reentry is like…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

A number of years ago I was on a panel with a number of criminal justice experts and formerly incarcerated people (criminal justice experts in their own right), and a formerly incarcerated woman was describing reentry. She said, “Reentry is … Continue reading →

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Reentry is about relationships

Posted on January 21, 2012 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In the last 15 years, “reentry” has become a buzzword in the criminal justice world. Reentry, however, has existed as long as we have had prisons and jails. Reentry is simply the point where people are released from prisons and … Continue reading →

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Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Posted on January 16, 2012 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My earliest political memory is of Dr. King’s assassination. I was 7 years old. I didn’t understand the enormity or impact of his death. All I knew, as a child, using the adults’ sentiments as a barometer, was that the … Continue reading →

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In Memory of Reentry

Posted on January 15, 2012 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My life, my job, has brought me in contact with both famous and infamous people. Not surprisingly, the infamous ones have been far more interesting than the famous. And perhaps this has more to do with the “take-aways,” what I … Continue reading →

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Youth Shackled

Posted on December 28, 2011 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

At the Halsey Street train station in Brooklyn, four teenagers are shackled and seated on the hard wooden bench. Two police officers in plainclothes, who do not look like cops, stand near the youth. One is on his walkie-talkie. The … Continue reading →

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What is it with cops and donuts?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The sun is shining brightly. Sitting in Dunkin Donuts this morning on a high stool, looking out the window where the sun is shining in onto Halsey Street, right off Broadway, in Brooklyn, USA, eating an everything bagel, slightly toasted, … Continue reading →

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There is always a story…

Posted on October 31, 2011 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Just the other day I was walking by the Dunkin Donuts on the corner of Broadway and Halsey in Brooklyn when a man, probably my age plus twenty years of hard living on the streets, limped up to me and … Continue reading →

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Remembering Attica

Posted on September 14, 2011 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion. For far too many, it is an event not remembered, and is overshadowed by 9-11, the 10th Anniversary of 9-11. But when it happened, in September of 1971, the repercussions of … Continue reading →

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Remembering 9-11

Posted on September 12, 2011 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Everyone in New York City has a 9-11 story. Mine begins nearly two months before that fateful day. I was in the World Trade Center with my ex-wife, who is originally from Jamaica. (I am a born and bred New … Continue reading →

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On the Dock

Posted on September 7, 2011 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

We are moored to the dock Supine Stargazing Lost in the Milky Way I feel so far away from home Where we can’t see the stars We oooh and aaah at shooting stars This is better than the Macy’s Fourth … Continue reading →

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