Judevine: The Complete Poems, 1970-1990

by David Budbill

The stage is Judevine , an imaginary town in northern Vermont. This is a small stage, sometimes cold and darkened, but filled with characters so finely etched that they stand out as clearly as steeples against the sky. David Budbill plunges into the soul of New England to find characters and stories with lessons for anyone wanting to find the intrinsic nature of the region that has been called "all of America's backyard." These dark, lyrical, funny narrative poems portray the hopes and joys, pains and despair of people who have been bypassed or bruised by the twentieth century. Budbill has written a song of the down-and-out or overlooked, a song of the unsung. This anthem of the rural renaissance is microcosmic in setting, but universal in scope.

Genres: Poetry

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

DAVID BUDBILL was born in 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio to a streetcar driver and a minister’s daughter. In 1969 he and his wife, Lois Eby, moved from New York City to Northern Vermont where they lived together for 47 years until his death in 2016. David’s colorful life included being a track star in high school, attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, teaching at Lincoln University (a historically Black college in Pennsylvania), laboring on a Christmas tree farm, playing myriad musical instruments, working for racial and economic justice, tending a large vegetable garden, cutting his own wood, riding a mountain bike, and writing a staggering amount of creative material. David had a gift with the written word, with storytelling, and with striking the heart of the matter with astonishing clarity and simplicity.

During his prolific career David authored eight books of poems, seven plays, two novels, a collection of short stories, two picture books for children, dozens of essays, and the libretto for an opera. He also served as an occasional commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His honors include an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from New England College, a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. David loved to write but he also loved to perform and did so in many venues—from schools and prisons in Vermont to avant-garde performance spaces in New York City—often with bassist William Parker and other musical collaborators.

Life in rural Vermont provided much of the inspiration for David’s work, be it cutting wood, putting a vegetable garden to bed, a bird’s song, or the struggles of working folks. He was keenly attuned to the world’s suffering and had a passion for social justice, particularly issues of race and class, that infused much of his work. David lived his life to the fullest—aware of his relative privilege but determined to enjoy and savor what he had, particularly the simple things: a neatly stacked woodpile, a good meal and lively conversation, a cup of tea. He lived with incredible love for this life—for humanity and for the natural world around him.

Reviews

[Grayson King · Rating 5 out of 5]

never wrote a review for this;

from what i remember it was surprisingly delightful long form poetry that helped me look beyond my first impressions of the world and the people in it . very bittersweet, i think i should reread this from time to time to remind myself of the everything abt this. I try not to be too judgmental but this really helped me put more things into perspective and think of people differently.


nota bene: white author does write the n word.. often.. took me awhile to actually get into the text because of that, just a heads up incase you decide to read bc i wasn’t expecting it to be used so profusely in a modern text,

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long prose-poem that tells the story of a unique group of town folk in a northern Vermont town over the course of several decades. The stories of these people will stay with me for a long time.

Budbill had a way of seeing people for who they are; he had a profound understanding of the human condition. I never met him, but I miss him.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to learn what the people of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont are like, or at least the slim handful who have lived near David Budbill for the past 30 years, read this book.

It's really a verse novel, and it works beautifully that way. Budbill is willfully simple in his poetry, and has a feel for vernacular and the backcountry atmosphere that is quite special. Some of his longer poems, in particular, are remarkable in the way they draw you into a character's life and leave you pained or overjoyed or simply slack at whatever conclusion is reached.

A poet of great talent who is very much under the radar for most people. Check him out.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

COME ON PEOPLE, SHITTY GOD DAMN, THIS IS 5 STARS OF THE REAL DEAL ALL THE WAY -- WORD!

David Budbill gets it all right in the poem, story, playation -- the voices, my French Canadian mother pissed her pants reading some of these pieces .. he has the voices down so real, my friend Buck and I, after reading the book together, started speaking Canadianese ... although having grown up surrounding by the French Canadian relatives, Memere and her sisters and the many good times at the "Canadian Club" up in Barrie as a kid, this books speaks to me.

[Megan Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very real, very regional.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes all content from "From Down to the Village" which is the book I had in 1981, out of print, can't find in GoodReads; can't find ISBN

[Hannah C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made all these so you would fall in love with me!!????!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vermont

[Tristan Devine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more interesting books I’ve read. Odd at times, splendid at times.

[Lo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ate dinner with him once. Well my whole lit class did. All five of us. It was a weird night because I remember thinking how little I liked the collections of poems and hoped it wouldn't show on my face.