We the Jury

Praise for We the Jury

“One of the most outstanding American poets of his generation . . . Miller’s poems face the unvarnished truth of racism and inequality with unsentimental and intriguing utterance.” —Sunday Independent (Ireland)

 “These entries candidly showcase the complexity of human contradictions, and the many forms of grief, doubt, and joy on offer. Moving between specific moments in history and ripe lyrical musings, these poems embrace the unanswerable, offering a deep and satisfying look at selfhood.”—Publishers Weekly

 “A sharply conceived and exquisitely written collection . . . It’s especially striking to read these poems now, because they feel perfectly suited for our fractured times, but a collection this assured, this perfectly rendered, will remain fresh and equally resonant for future readers.”—Los Angeles Review

 “Astute and timely . . . Many-minded and formally diverse, [We the Jury] guides its reader through a gauntlet of American moments, personal and political, past and present, en route to what amounts, for this reader, to a sort of reckoning with the American identity and, within that identity, a speaker finding their place.”—D.S. Waldman, Poetry International

 “We the Jury is a good-hearted testament to not only the intricate treading of history but also to enduring love, and the radical strength required to thrive in a ravaged world . . . What Miller does with the expression and capacity of love is magnificent and indeed, memorable. The poems enlarge its concept, open it up in a way that is not a vague, distant thought to the reader, but rather, a real outward force, a gentle beckoning to every wild and quiet possibility.”—Southern Indiana Review

 “Miller—skeptical, exact, yet not entirely without hope—is one of the best. ‘On History,’ about the poet’s relationship with a convicted murderer, is surely one of the most nuanced explorations of justice (criminal or otherwise) that you are likely to read this year.”—California Review of Books

 “Poetry can transform the imagination, and the kind of changes Miller offers are ones we might shy away from. But the book itself is brave, and it makes me feel brave enough to face even the griefs and losses I have yet to encounter.”—Meridian

 “The poems are dramatic but understated, quiet in the way a bassoon can fill a room without alarming the audience; they are gifts of steady language—unpretentious, unambiguous—in a world swarming with hornet-tipped voices . . . The poems are quiet like an iris bulb. If a reader puts her ear close, she’ll hear the ground rumbling.”—Colorado Review

 “An introspective call-to-action like no other . . . We the Jury delivers the informal findings of our conflicted and always-evolving existence and exposes the heart.”—RHINO

 “In We the Jury, Wayne Miller asks probing questions about joy, grief, mortality, and understanding others.”—Library Journal

 “At times heartbreaking, but always beautiful, We the Jury is a collection that does not shy away from the realities of life—those of aging, of politics, of violence, or of loss.”—The West Review

 “Simultaneously devastating and stunningly beautiful . . . [Miller’s] is an unflinching, steady gaze, and he clearly feels and sees deeply, attending to the world around him through a lyric that manages to unpack complex ideas across a handful of carved, crafted lines.”—Rob Mclennan, on his blog

 “We the Jury is a book of dark and sometimes surreal love poems from the heart of a man to his wife, his children, his nation, and his past. ‘Marveling at the age of things,’ Miller writes with an understanding of community and the knowledge that any one understanding must be questioned: ‘we will come down upon us with the weight of our entire existence