Black Foot

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What This Item Is About

Black Foot is a collection of raw, unvarnished poems forged from the back roads of West Tennessee, where cypress knees rise from dark water, gravel roads disappear into the levee, and every scar carries a story. Drawing from a lifetime of loss, hard labor, faith, family, and survival, William Lee Harness writes with the plain honesty of a man who has hauled scrap iron, worked the river, slept in tents, buried those he loved, and still found reasons to keep moving forward. These poems do not chase perfection—they tell the truth. From Reelfoot Lake and the Mississippi River to forgotten crossroads, weathered front porches, and the quiet resilience of ordinary people, Black Foot preserves a way of life that is steadily disappearing. Every page bears the weight of lived experience and the enduring belief that beauty can still be found in worn boots, calloused hands, and the places most people overlook. Honest, deeply personal, and unmistakably Southern, Black Foot is a testament to the strength it takes to endure—and to the stories that remain long after the dust settles.