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It's August

Today’s poem is “It’s August” by the late Vermont poet David Budbill. David was the author of ten books of poems, as well as novels, plays short stories, and a libretto for opera. His last book of poems Tumbling Toward the End, was published posthumously in 2017.

For many years David lived in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. There is much in common between our states. About his writing he said, “I’ve got a sense of humor and it always comes through. Any more than that, I cannot say.”

It’s August
by David Budbill

It’s August and all I can think about
is what it will be like after Labor Day.
Think of it soon: nothing to do, nowhere
to go, nobody to see. Oh! just think of it!

All that emptiness into which I can pour
whatever it is I might want to see and say.
Emptiness. Blessed emptiness.

Then a little voice says,
But when I get it, I don’t know
what to do with it, and then
I wish I didn’t have it.

Poem copyright © 2017 David Budbill.
Reprinted from Tumbling Toward the End, Copper Canyon Press, 2017
by permission of Copper Canyon Press.