Alternating between the loveable irrascibility and self-mocking humor reminiscent of the poet Cold Mountain (Han Shan), Budbill's poems view the modern world from the viewpoint of a New England hermit-scholar. Remarkable for their generous spirit, accessibility and biting criticism, these poems present a poet of strong mind and voice.

"Budbill both informs and moves. He is, in short, a delight and a comfort."- Wendell Berry

"Budbill writes out of the real, contemporary, New England, not from the past, not from the cellar holes. He speaks from the New England which is Appalachia - poverty, exploitation, and good people."-Donald Hall

David Budbill is the author of numerous books of poetry, ?ction, and drama, and is an occasional commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered." With bassist William Parker, Budbill performs a duet collaboration entitled "Zen Mountains / Zen Streets." He lives in rural Vermont.

A "tale of the tribe" (Ezra Pound's phrase for his own longer work), "Park Songs" is set during a single day in a down-and-out Midwestern city park where people from all walks of life gather. In this small green space amidst a great gray city, the park provides a refuge for its caretaker (and resident poet), street preachers, retirees, moms, hustlers, and teenagers. Interspersed with blues songs, the community speaks through poetic monologues and conversations, while the homeless provide the introductory chorus--and all of their voices become one great epic tale of comedy and tragedy.

Full of unexpected humor, hard-won wisdom, righteous (but sometimes misplaced) anger, and sly tenderness, their stories show us how people learn to live with mistakes and make connections in an antisocial world. As the poem/play engages us in their pain and joy--and the goofy delight of being human--it makes a quietly soulful statement about acceptance and community in our lives.

David Budbill has worked as a carpenter's apprentice, short order cook, day laborer, and occasional commentator on NPR's "All Thing Considered." His poems can often be heard on Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac" and his books include the best-selling "Happy Life" (Copper Canyon Press) and "Judevine," a collection of narrative poems that forms the basis for the play "Judevine," which has been performed in twenty-two states. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Budbill now lives in the mountains of northern Vermont.

R. C. Irwin, whose absurdist and nostalgic work provides the set design for "Park Songs," teaches at San Francisco City College.

Little Sara Bolster loved the great shining horses that drew the Henkel brewery wagon through the streets of Detroit in the 1880s. Those horses came to signify her fate, for she married the Henkel son and later, as a widow, took over the business. Sara's struggle against the intolerance and hypocrisy of family and friends who disapproved of a woman running a brewery and opening a beer garden makes her a standout among the characters of Mildred Walker. "The Brewers' Big Horses" recreates the manners and traditions of Germans in America as Prohibition gets up steam.

"Dr. Norton's Wife" was praised for its quiet honesty and artistic integrity when it was first published in 1938. It stands up firmly as a portrait of a marriage subjected to the strain of unexpected invalidism. As a doctor's wife, Sue Norton is no stranger to matters of life and death. But medical shoptalk screens her from the realities of illness until she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Never clinical, Walker, herself the wife of a doctor, accurately describes the disease's progress and the adjustments necessary to cope with it. The result is a tender story of "the marriage of true minds."