On native ground

On Native Ground, Jim Barnes's splendid memoir in poetry and prose, takes us from his boyhood in rural southeastern Oklahoma during the Depression and World War II through his mature years as an internationally recognized poet. In the first part of the memoir, Barnes recalls places, people, and events from his childhood. He singles out forgotten landmarks that have been damaged or destroyed through the passage of time. While lamenting their loss, Barnes celebrates the capacity of art to keep in memory what is otherwise forgotten. To that end, Barnes's exquisitely crafted poems memorialize moments, scenes, or emotions from a past that is at once personal and collective. In the memoir's second part, Barnes chronicles more recent experiences in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, evoking vividly the sights, sounds, and moods of the places from which he draws new inspiration for his art. Throughout, Barnes comments incisively on writing, the universality of art, and contemporary literary issues. Above all, by his own example, he shows how a writer can be firmly rooted in the land while transcending any limitations implied by ethnic or regional labels.