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On Native Ground: Memoirs and Impressions
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.
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.
279 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1997
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January 8, 2026
The author is listed on Wikipedia’s list of self-identified Choctaw people. I also can’t find any reference to him by the Choctaw Nation as one of their own or any mention of him being enrolled as a citizen of the tribe. Given how many white people (e.g. Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joseph Bruchac, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz) falsely claim Native ancestry for fame and profit, I’d appreciate any evidence that Jim Barnes is actually Native. Given he was Oklahoma’s poet laureate, you would assume the Choctaw Nation would have given him a shoutout at some point in his long career.
The Oklahoma boyhood part of the book is interesting, but is unfortunately short. A lot of the book is a tedious account of Barnes’ foreign travels among academic circles, interspersed with poems that I don’t personally find very interesting. Your level of poetic appreciation might vary.
The Oklahoma boyhood part of the book is interesting, but is unfortunately short. A lot of the book is a tedious account of Barnes’ foreign travels among academic circles, interspersed with poems that I don’t personally find very interesting. Your level of poetic appreciation might vary.
Displaying 1 of 1 review