While We've Still Got Feet by David Budbill

Inspired by classical Chinese hermit-poets, David Budbill has spent 35 years on the side of a mountain in Vermont writing about his wilderness home, loneliness, and mortality, with great humor and insight.  If you listen to The Writer's Almanac, you may have heard Garrison Keillor reading some of David's poetry.  For a time he was a commentator on NPR's "All Things Considered".  He also has a website where he edits and publishes "The Judevine Mountain Emailite: An On-line and On-going Journal of Politics and Opinion" (see http://www.davidbudbill.com/ ).  You may want to check out some of his poetry books, or essays and plays, or one of his children's books, or Young Adult books.

This slim volumeof poetry is a delight.  David's poems are funny, self deprecating, and contain a lot of wisdow.

A couple of examples:

Tomorrow
Tomorrow
we are
bones and ash,
the roots of weeds
poking through
our skulls.

Today,
simple clothes,
empty mind,
full stomach,
alive, aware,
right here,
right now.

Drunk on music,
who needs wine?

Come on,
Sweetheart,
let's go dancing
while we've still
got feet.

Ryokan Says
With what can I
compare this life?
     Weeds floating on water.

And there you are with your
dreams of immortality
     through poetry.

Pretty pompous--
don't you think?--for a
     weed floating on water?