Rooted in the influence of Black church preaching, homiletic poetics appears where poems resemble sermons in argument, exhortation, prophetic voice, or moral framing. Such poetry may move from testimony to warning, lament to hope, or scriptural allusion to social critique. The concept is especially useful in African American literary analysis because church rhetoric has profoundly shaped poetic expression, making religious discourse a major aesthetic as well as cultural influence.

Homiletic poetics draws on the specific rhetorical and structural traditions of Black preaching, which African American scholars including Henry H. Mitchell and Cleophus LaRue have extensively analysed. The Black sermon characteristically moves through scriptural exegesis, doctrinal exposition, emotional intensification, and a concluding "celebration" that lifts the congregation into collective affirmation. Poets who draw on this structure — including James Weldon Johnson in "God's Trombones," Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sterling Plumpp — use its escalating intensity and communal address to powerful effect. Students should listen to recordings of great Black preachers alongside reading homiletically inflected poetry. Related terms include preacherly cadence, sanctified rhythm, sacred secular fusion, liberation theology, and testimonial voice.