You could call Baby Shoes Blues a work of poetry seven decades in the making. Its author, Doyle Newsom, during that time has sampled an amazing variety of life experiences. He has worked as a teacher, a preacher, a bartender, a car salesman, a stockbroker, a long haul truck driver, a retail clothing store manager and buyer, and a successful small business owner. This book, Baby Shoes Blues, deals with a wide range of subjects, but as you read it, a central theme of Doyle's experience as a combat Marine Corps officer in Vietnam will emerge. If you are a veteran, this first collection with its unusual war stories will resonate with your experience at a deep and very visceral level. If you are not a veteran, read this collection with the expectation of gaining a new and unusual perspective of our confusing and unsettling world. If you are a person of faith, you will identify with many of the works in this book. If you are not, you will be challenged to think about your purpose and your place as a spiritual being on this temporal plane. While you are reading Baby Shoes Blues, you may find yourself feeling a bit overwhelmed by the pathos of the experiences described. Read on, however, because Doyle will encourage you to hope and to love. This book of poems does not providing answers, but it does attempt to offer and introduce you to a place where you might make a stand and shout back at and overcome despair. You may even find yourself laughing out loud.
