David Budbill

David Wolf Budbill (born 1940, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American poet, and playwright.

He is the author of eight books of poems, eight plays, a novel, a collection of short stories, a picture book for children, and dozens of essays, introductions, speeches, and book reviews.

His three most recent books of poems are Happy Life^[1] (Copper Canyon Press, 2011), While We’ve Still Got Feet (Copper Canyon Press, 2005) and Moment to Moment: Poems of a Mountain Recluse (Copper Canyon Press, 1999).^[2]

His collection of narrative poems, Judevine, was republished in an expanded edition by Chelsea Green Publishing Company in 1999.^[3]

Garrison Keillor reads frequently from David's poems on The Writer's Almanac on National Public Radio.^[4]

His play Judevine, a stage version of his narrative poems, has now had 65 productions in 22 states since the early 1980s. Among Budbill's other plays are Little Acts of Kindness, Thingy World!, Two for Christmas and his newest, first produced in 2010, A Song for My Father.^[5]

Zen Mountains/Zen Streets and Songs for a Suffering World, both, audio CDs of his poetry, with the music of jazz bassist and composer William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake were released on the Boxholder Records label in 1999 and 2003.

He has also served as an occasional commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.^[6]

He is the creator and editor of The Judevine Mountain Emailite: a Cyberzine: an On-Line and On-Going Journal of Politics and Opinion, which is available on his website.^[7]

In 2000, Budbill wrote the libretto for an opera, with music by composer Erik Nielsen, called A Fleeting Animal: An Opera from Judevine, which is based on two characters from the Judevine poems. A Fleeting Animal premiered in Vermont in October 2000 to rave reviews and packed houses.

Among his honors and prizes are his first Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from New England College, in Henniker, New Hampshire, in January 2009. David's other prizes and honors include: a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry in 1981, a National Endowment for the Arts Play Writing Fellowship in 1991, The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award for Fiction in 1978, and The Vermont Arts Council’s Walter Cerf Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts in 2002. In November 2009 David was inducted as a Fellow into the Vermont Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2011, David received the Kjell Meling Memorial Award for Distinction in the Arts & Humanities. presented by Pennsylvania State University/Altoona.^[8]

Happy Life (Copper Canyon Press, 2011) is his latest collection of poems. Inspired by ancient Chinese and Japanese reclusive poets, Budbill continues a discourse about his struggles living a simple life in a complex modern time.

He lives in the mountains or northern Vermont with his wife, painter Lois Eby; their daughter is the poet Nadine Wolf Budbill.^[9] His papers are held at University of Vermont.^[10]

In 1968, Budbill signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.^[11]

Awards

Among his prizes and honors are a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in playwriting, a 1982 Guggenheim Fellowship in poetry, and a Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award for fiction.^[12]

Selected works

Poetry

• ’’Barking Dog’’ (Barking Dog Press, 1968)
• ’’The Chain Saw Dance’’ (Crow’s Mark Press, 1977; Countryman Press, 1983)
• ’’From Down to the Village’’ (The Ark, 1981)
• ’’Why I Came to Judevine’’ (White Pine Press, 1987)
• ’’Judevine: The Complete Poems’’ (Chelsea Green, 1991, 1999)
• ’’Moment to Moment: Poems of a Mountain Recluse’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 1999)
• ’’While We've Still Got Feet’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 2005)
• ’’Happy Life’’ (Copper Canyon Press, 2011)
• "Park Songs" (Exterminating Angel Press, 2012)

Compact disks

• ’’Zen Mountains-Zen Streets: A Duet for Poet and Improvised Bass’’ (with bassist William Parker) (Boxholder Records, 1999)
• ’’Songs for a Suffering World: A Prayer for Peace, a Protest Against War’’ (with bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake)(Boxholder Records, 2003)

Plays

• ’’Mannequins’ Demise’’ (1965)
• ’’Knucklehead Rides Again’’ (1966)
• ’’Pulp Cutters’ Nativity’’ (Countryman Press, 1981)
• ’’Judevine: The Play’’ (New American Play 2, Heinemann, 1990)
• ’’Thingy World’’ (1991)
• ’’Little Acts of Kindness: A Poem for Fourteen Voices and Blues Band’’ (1993)
• ’’Two For Christmas’’ (1997)
• "A Song For My Father" (2010)

Opera librettos

• ’’A Fleeting Animal: An Opera from Judevine’’ (with composer Erik Nielsen)(2000)

Cyberzines

• ’’The Judeville Mountain Emailite: An On-line and On-going Journal of Politics and Opinion

Short stories

• ’’Snowshoe Trek to Otter River’’ (The Dial Press, 1976; Onion River Press, 2005)

Novels

• ’’The Bones on Black Spruce Mountain’’ (The Dial Press, 1978; Onion River Press, 2004)

Children’s books

• ’’Christmas Tree Farm’’ (Macmillan, 1974)

Edited volumes

• ’’Danvis Tales: Selected Stories by Rowland E. Robinson’’ (University Press of New England, 1995)

References

External links

• Inventory of the David Budbill Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library
• Official website
• "David Budbill Brings New Drama To The Stage", VPR, Amy Noyes, 04/23/10
• David Budbill's poem "Happy Life" in Narrative Magazine.
• David Budbill at Library of Congress Authorities, with 17 catalog records