Judevine: The Complete Poems, 1970-1990

Budbill came to northern Vermont in the Sixties as part of the hippie diaspora. Like many others, he responded to the stubborn, hard life of the backwoods poor, and it became both his own way of life and his subject as a poet. This book brings together 20 years of the lives of a semifictional community. The cast of characters ranges from Antoine, harvester of Christmas trees, to Sarah, a newcomer who stays on in Judevine after her husband tires of farming and leaves. Budbill finds "delight . . ./ In the midst of what some think is squalor." Over the course of this verse novel, the circumscribed lives of these feisty people accumulate resonance, while retaining the transparency of poetry. Budbill's is an important voice, part of the nascent movement to bring our view of New England's native poor from the long-vanished world of Ethan Frome to the likes of the Beans of Egypt, Maine. Essential for regional collections.