Happy Life

by David Budbill

“David Budbill is a no-nonsense free-range sage who celebrates tomatoes in September, the whistle of a woodcock and sweet black tea and ancient Chinese poems.” —New York Times
"Budbill both informs and moves. He is, in short, a delight and a comfort."—Wendell Berry

"[Budbill] can be hilarious, as when he gripes, 'What good is my humility / when I am / stuck / in this obscurity?'"—Booklist, starred review

"His terse, epigrammatic lyrics are a lilting mirror of classical Chinese poetry."—The Wichita Eagle

David Budbill continues his popular poetic ruminations on life in remote New England—an outward survey of a forested mountain and an introspection of self-reliance, anonymity, and the creative life. Inspired by classical Chinese and Japanese poets, Budbill contemplates the seasons, ambition, his questionable desire for fame and fortune, and simple, focused contentment: "Weed the beans. Pick the peas."

"Out in the Woods"


The only time I'm really free is when I'm out in the woods
cutting firewood, stacking brush, clearing trails.

Just the chain saw, the dog and me.
Heave and groan, sweat and ache.

Work until I can't stand it anymore.
Take a break.

Sit on the needle-strewn ground up against a big pine tree,
drink some water, stare out through the woods, pet the dog.

Stretch out on the ground, take a nap,
dog's head on my lap.

Ah, this would be the time and place and way
to die.

David Budbill is the author of poems, plays, essays, speeches, and book reviews. He has also served as a commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. He lives in the mountains of northern Vermont where he tends his garden and website.

Genres: Poetry, Nature

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 12, 2011

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

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the past year or so, I have been reading a few poems a day, rotating through a stack of 5-6 books next to my bed. I consistently found myself looking forward to when Happy Life got to the top of the pile. Some of of the other poetry I've been reading has been so incomprehensible that I end up trying so hard to figure out what it means that I don't get a chance to figure out how it makes me feel. Budbill's poems are accessible. I hesitate to say "simple", because that word could have such a negative connotation. I just found it a lot easier to understand what the poet was going for--or at least I think I do--and as such, it was just plain easier to enjoy this book of poems.

Also, the vast majority of these poems are about living in the woods of New England, which is where I grew up. And though the poet is considerably older than I am, and I have not lived "in the woods" (at least in the literal sense) for nearly two decades, I could relate to these poems as perhaps only a native New Englander could.

I think the first poem that hooked me was early in the book. Titled "October 17th", it's fairly representative of the other poems in the collection:

All day I worked outside in the cold air
under a heavy sky, running a chainsaw,

stacking firewood, tearing up the last bits
of garden, turning compost. Now outside

a cold wind blows, a cold rain
comes down. Inside, I lie under a quilt,

drinking sweet black tea and warm milk
and reading poems from long ago.

Yup. Sounds good to me.

[Dan Gobble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meditative, contemplative, mindful of each breath, alert, observant, quiet, at peace, yet recognizing the places where tension pulls and tugs at the edges, even at the center. In place and writing from a life flowing from that place, not detached and devoid of concrete experience, but submerged in chopping wood, splitting wood, stacking wood, burning wood, along with growing food, canning and preserving food, and then enjoying eating that food and basking in the warmth of those fires, sweat, toil, labor, all enjoyed in the doing and then in the sitting back and soaking it all in, and getting up the next morning, the next season, and moving yet again to the rhythms of the earth's
seasons. This is one of those books of poems which caused me to read and reread each poem. One of my favorites:
"September Visitors"
I'm glad to see our friends come:
talk laughter, food, wine.
I'm glad to see our friends go:
Solitude, emptiness, gardens,
autumn wind.

[Jared Gulian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Budbill takes inspiration from ancient Chinese hermit-poets and writes poems about solitude, nature, cutting wood, the changing seasons, gardening, aging, and beauty. These are not pretentious poems but quiet contemplations on the every day. Down to earth and accessible. Budbill lived in the mountains of northern Vermont and died in 2016.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've been reading david budbill's poetry for many years. he writes from the solitude of Judevine Mountain in New England. His poems are filled with reverence for nature, dry wit, and a deep appreciation for silence, as evidenced by this poem from "Happy Life":

Just Silence and Stillness

this warm September morning.
No wind, no birds' songs,
no jets going over
at 30,000 feet,

but later today the wind will pick up,
a slight breeze will begin.
A pileated woodpecker will call
off in the woods somewhere.

Ravens will begin their croaking
over near the Ledges.
Chickadees and nuthatches
will fuss in the yard.

I'll pick up my bamboo flute
and join them,
But just now, none of that, just now,
silence and stillness,

a quiet so profound I think
I can hear my own heart beating.


or, this poem:

Call Ahead

If you come here
for a visit,
please,
call ahead.

But if you just show up,
don't be offended
if
I'm not here.

I may be out in the woods
putting up my firewood,
or
maybe

I'm just hiding,
wanting to stay
alone
in this place.




poetry doesn't get much better than that, for me.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Budbill writes beautiful poetry that is inspired by the Buddhist Zen and the "cold mountain" poetry of Han Shan and other poets of China and Japan. He writes of a simple, engaged, and creative life in the mountains, but being drawn to ambition and city life, fame and fortune. He writes about the change of seasons and growing older. By turns, inspiring, heartbreaking, and appreciative, there is joy in his work that is infectious.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully clear and meaningful poems that really spoke to me.

[David Lumpkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have recently become a fan of David Budbill Poetry. His writing is a distinct mixture of ancient Chinese poetry and stills with todays frank language. It is leavened a bit with some very modern language, rarely, but at times. Moving through each book that I've read is like moving through the poets life with him. The poetry inspires me to write more, to read more. My own poetry follows a much different path, but there is, somehow, a meeting place of the two. I enjoy the structure of his poetry, much similar to haiku and tanka. Most of it is thoughts that step gingerly across the acreage of the poets mind.

[Pat Jurgens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic look back on 40 years as a poet living on a mountain in Vermont. The simple life of wood cutting, planting a garden, and writing poetry like the ancient Chinese poets. Gratitude for so much time in his chosen work and place.

[Erin Kelley]

I love David Budbill. A classic VT poet I think that I enjoy his later works even more than the snippets I've read from Judevine - the exploration of beauty and ugliness and hard work and sex and love into old age is quite wonderful to read.

[Amelia Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love his poetry and this collection is perfect reading for right now.

[{ rosina } · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by an old man (but like a sort of cool-ish old man) and it shows

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

He writes very sweet and simple poems that I mostly enjoyed reading but if I were to be a critic I would say that I sometimes found them lacking in skill and technique. They were easy to read but sometimes they felt a bit TOO easy to read. It was definitely worth a read but did feel very plain.

[Bookbeaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Budbill at his best - but then, what else is there? Someone once said if you don't like the blues you have to have a hole in your soul. The same thing applies to David's poetry. From soul to soul he writes nothing but the truth.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out loving this book, but by the end I felt there were a few poems that he shouldn't have put out there because they just weren't good poems yet. So I can only rate it 3 stars which is still pretty good.

[Patti K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the poems in this 2011 volume hit the mark. They are peaceful and elegantly simple.
But too many are just list poems or poems after ancient Chinese poets that sound
repetitious. I wanted a little edge or piquancy to these mostly diary-type poems. Okay.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

He lost me on the first poem (nobody's days are their own) and didn't manage to pull me back in, though I appreciated the tomatoes and found his air breathable (though thin).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of poems.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear unpretentious poems
:-)

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great book of simple poems about nature, simple living, and time passing.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do yourself a favor and read a Budbill poem or three from time to time.