Nights Under a Tin Roof : Recollections of a Southern Boyhood

by James A. Autry, Janica A. Autry

Poems describe the author's memories of life in rural Mississippi, including snakes, cotton, food, courtship, weddings, worship, and funerals

Genres: Poetry

98 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1989

About the author

Poet, lecturer, and management consultant James A. Autry was born March 8, 1933, in Memphis, Tennessee, but he grew up in Benton County, Mississippi, and in 1955 received a B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Mississippi, where he was later named a Distinguished Alumnus and elected to the Alumni Hall of Fame. A former president of the Meredith Corporation’s Magazine Group, publisher of such magazines as Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Successful Farming, he took an early retirement in 1991 to focus more on his present career as speaker and management consultant.

Autry has published ten books, two of which are volumes of poetry. In 1991, the Kentucky Poetry Review published a special issue devoted to Autry’s poetry, and he received national prominence as one of the poets featured on Bill Moyers’ special series The Power of the Word on PBS.

He and his wife, Sally Pederson, live in Des Moines, Iowa.

Reviews

[Adam Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of these poems paint vivid pictures of poor Southern rural life, that make me think of my father's family in East Texas. Unfortunately, a couple of the poems make such casual and unapologetic use of the N-word, that I was left cringing.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad has been telling me to read James Autry's books for years; I always meant to but never got around to it. Dad apparently got tired of waiting because he dropped off his two copies when he was in town recently, and after finishing the first, I'm very glad he did. These poems about Autry's childhood in the South are some of the best narrative poems I've bumped into in a while. He vividly captures the voices of those he knew as a boy without making them caricatures, and his descriptions of the food involved in all the community events made my mouth water. I look forward to reading the other volume soon.