Larry Aaron

Barefoot Boy: an Anthology of Blue Ridge Poems Larry Aaron

Barefoot Boy brings back the idyllic days of childhood in the Blue Ridge Mountains----picking up stones by the creek bank, chasing bumblebees, swinging from grapevines, gathering blackberries, and being immersed in nature's symphony of sounds. Reminiscing about the old homeplace, granddad playing his banjo and sharing his tall tales, and how life on the farm reflects the cycles of life offer the flavor of those bygone days. Selections such as Saying Goodbye reflect on lonesome times and The Oldtimer on threatening changes. The beauty of nature is both magnified and personified in Hopes and Dreams, Autumn Leaves and On Broadway. The spirituality of the creation is highlighted in Lazarus and Goliath and Ice Cathedral just as The Legend of the Robin memorializes the Crucifixion and The Butterfly the brevity of life. The Oak Tree becomes nature's archive. In Perspective and Lonesome Bill gaiety and gravity are juxtaposed. Even The Congregation draws on humor in a dream about Blue Ridge flowers. Barefoot Boy is about modern man's need for nature's touch and the natural spirituality associated with a simpler life seemingly out of reach in contemporary times.