Poetry by a Literacy Student & Advocate

Earl Mills, Poet

Emmett and I met an inspiring adult literacy student and poet at a conference we attended last year. The student’s name is Earl Mills, and he lives in New Bern, NC. Earl takes classes at the Craven Literacy Council, and he will publish his first book of poems soon. His blog (http://earlmills.wordpress.com) is an inspiring resource for literacy tutors and students. It tells the story of his journey to literacy and his growth as a poet, and it shares many of his poems.

Here is the beginning of one of his poems:

My Name is Illiterate

By Earl Mills

I’m red, yellow, black and white
From every nation and tongue
Old middle age and young.

I have no boundaries
Generational or race
My father couldn’t read
Now I take his place.

You look for me
In all the wrong places
For I’m closer than you think.

To read the rest of this poem and others by Earl Mills, CLICK HERE