The Chain Saw Dance
The Chain Saw Dance
Introduction by Hayden Carruth
Drawings by Lois Eby
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(Countryman Press, 1983)
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The first in the series of poems that would become JUDEVINE. Here Budbill introduces to the world such memorable back-woods characters as Antoine, Arnie, Doug, Bobbie, Granny, Anson and Jimmy.
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This book was the occasion for great controversy and publicity when it was first published.
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All the poems in THE CHAIN SAW DANCE are included in JUDEVINE.
“THE CHAIN SAW DANCE is a strong book and one that must be respected….This book is also a victory over what most poets would find wholly intractable subject matter. I don’t know when I’ve come across a book so straight-forwardly “un-poetic.”
– Thomas McGrath
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“[David Budbill’s] work points in a direction so interesting and valuable that he should be taken seriously, now.”
– Booklist
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“THE CHAIN SAW DANCE is readable in both senses, for what it says and for the way it says it. More readable than 98% of the new work I see. It both informs and moves. David Budbill is…a delight and a comfort, at least to me.”
– Wendell Berry
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“I love THE CHAIN SAW DANCE….Looking at reality closely, [David Budbill] sees parts move in a unison–sometimes graceless, sometimes ugly, always resolved in a human wholeness.”
– Donald Hall
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“THE CHAIN SAW DANCE is one of the signs of new life in American poetry, hard-spoken yet compassionate, a summary of the survival strength inherent in the oppressed and hurt. This is a new voice in New England and one to be listened to.”
– Millen Brand
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“THE CHAIN SAW DANCE is a loving book, a funny book and sometimes an angry book….I believe this is an important book, both for what it contains and for what it promises.”
– John Haines​​​​