Author Archives: William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

About William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

William Eric Waters is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, essayist, educator, criminal-justice scholar, and nonprofit executive. Writing as William E. Waters, he is the author of the epic poem Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass and three poetry collections: Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Feminine Mystique, and The Black Blood of Poetry. Under the pen name Easy Waters, he is the author of the novel Streets of Rage and the short-story collection Conundrums: Stories of Law & Justice. His work explores Black history, race, law, punishment, institutional power, accountability, redemption, and resilience.

The Writing Life: Writing An Award-Winning Epic Poem

Posted on May 13, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My epic poem, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass: Remembrance of Things Past and Present, was a co-winner of the 1998 Edwin Mellen Poetry Prize for an epic poem on the theme, “the captivity, exploitation, and suffering of … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged 1998 Edwin Mellen Poetry Prize, Africa's Gift to America, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, Hayes-Tilden Compromise, J.A. Rogers, James Weldon Johnson, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Rene Descartes, Sex & Race, Slavery, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Picture of Dorian Gray, W. E. B. Du Bois | 1 Comment

Streets of Rage Redux

Posted on May 2, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

When my childhood friend, Isa Rock, read and reviewed my novel, Streets of Rage, he wanted more. A few mornings ago, I started to think about more, and thus the process began in my head. My process as a writer … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Writing Projects, Streets of Rage | Tagged being a teenager, juveniles, murder, Nation of Islam, raising black boys | Leave a comment

Advancing Alice Walker — and Her Nonfiction

Posted on April 11, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

I have a love-hate relationship with the body of work of Alice Walker. I love Walker’s nonfiction, and even some of her autobiographical sketches, where her prose, even when it is expressing anger, is righteous anger. Her nonfiction is clear, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction & Short Stories | Tagged Alice Childress, Alice Walker, Anne Petry, Audre Lorde, Bebe Moore Campbell, Brothers and Sisters, Brown Girl Brownstone, Dorothy West, Edwidge Danticat, fathers, Gloria Naylor, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ida B. Wells, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose, Jamaica Kincaid, Jazz, Jubilee, June Jordan, Kindred, Lorraine Hansberry, Margaret Walker, Maya Angelou, Meridian, Nikki Giovanni, Ntozake Shange, Octavia E. Butler, Paule Marshall, protest novel, raising black boys, Relationships, Rita Dove, Sonia Sanchez, Suzan-Lori Parks, The Color Purple, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, The Women of Brewster Place, Toni Morrison, Topdog/Underdog, Wild Seed | Leave a comment

Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial: ‘My Lord, What a Morning’ — April 9, 1939

Posted on April 9, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

…Marian Anderson Performs for 75,000 Outside Lincoln Memorial, because she was banned from indoor venues because of her race. See https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/apr/09. My poetic tribute to Marian Anderson, in my collection, The Black Feminine Mystique:

Posted in Race, History & American Society | Tagged Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Marian Anderson, Poetry, The Black Feminine Mystique | 1 Comment

The Assassination of Dr. King – My first “political memory”

Posted on April 4, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My first political memory, at age 7, is the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I was too young to remember the assassinations of JFK and Malcolm X, and although RFK would be assassinated later in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Growing Up, Politics & Public Affairs, Race, History & American Society, raising black boys, Revolution, urban decay, Urban Impact | Tagged Andrew Goodman, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Decisive Decade, Growing Up, James Chaney, Jim Crow, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Schwerner, Mississippi Burning, murder, Poetry, raising black boys, Robert F. Kennedy, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, The Black Blood of Poetry, urban decay | 1 Comment

Poetry Matters

Posted on April 1, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

April is National Poetry Month. It was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. It is a month to celebrate poets’ integral role in our culture. #poetrymatters. This National Poetry Month, read one of my books of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Writing Projects | Tagged Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, ezwwaters.com, Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award Finalist, National Poetry Series Finalist, NYPD, Poetry, police involved shooting, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats, Winner of the Edwin Mellen Poetry Prize for an Epic Poem | Leave a comment

Daddy Dearest

Posted on February 22, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

My father, a Native Southern Son, was born in the same month and year Negro History Week was established. Then, we were Negroes. Thirty-four years later, when I was born, we were still Negroes. When my father died at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Memory & Personal Essays | Tagged 1960s, Black Arts Era, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Civil War, Confederacy, Decisive Decade, Emmett Till, Family, fathers, Fourth of July, Jim Crow, Michael Easley, raising black boys, Relationships, Richard Wright, Segregated South, Slavery, Southland, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch, Virginia, War of Northern Aggression, World War II | 3 Comments

From the American Revolution to the Black Arts Cultural Revolution

Posted on February 21, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

After the American Revolution, most of the defining moments in American history involve or revolve around Black people. Black folk were even involved in the American Revolution, fighting on both sides – the British promised Africans and the descendants of … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics & Public Affairs, Streets of Rage | Tagged 1619, 1619 Project, American Revolution, Black Arts Era, Black Patriotism, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Boston Massacre, Camelot, Crispus Attucks, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Growing Up, John F. Kennedy, Larry Neal, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Nation of Islam, patriotism, Poetry, Robert F. Kennedy, Slavery, urban decay | Leave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day to African American Literature!

Posted on February 14, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Since it is Valentine’s Day, I dare to say that I have an ongoing love affair with African American literature. And, once again, I am teaching African American Literature in the 20th Century for another college. (I previously taught it … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged African American Literature, Amherst method, Andra Day, Black Arts Movement, Black National Anthem, Black Patriotism, Black Poetics, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Booker T. Washington, Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America -- An Anthology, Eurocentric, Henry Louis Gates, Herb Boyd, James Weldon Johnson, Larry Neal, Lift Every Voice and Sing, Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Robert L. Allen, Slavery, Some Reflections on the Black Aesthetic, Three Negro Classics, Toni Morrison, Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The African American Presence in American Literature, Valentine's Day, Valerie A. Smith, W. E. B. Du Bois | 2 Comments

The Black Arts Movement

Posted on February 8, 2024 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The theme for this Black History Month is African Americans and the Arts. For purposes of this blog, I’ll highlight the “Black Arts Era” (1960-1975). The Black Arts Era began at the very beginning of what Samuel F. Yette, influential … Continue reading →

Posted in Education & Teaching, Politics & Public Affairs | Tagged Black Arts Era, Black History Month, Black Shadows and Through the White Looking Glass, Decisive Decade, democracy, John F. Kennedy, Larry Neal, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, murder, Nation of Islam, Robert F. Kennedy, Samuel Yette | 2 Comments

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