Bud and Mary: From Love to a Tolerable Truce is a collection of poetry that explores love, endurance, and the gradual evolution of a relationship over forty-five years. Through an intimate series of character studies, David Baldwin offers a nuanced portrait of his parents, DeForest “Bud” Baldwin and Mary Dondro Baldwin, and glimpses into the complexities of their life together.
Baldwin's free verse lays bare the relationship's tensions, showing a couple bound more by duty and time than by romantic joy. Each poem uncovers unspoken grievances, moments of resignation, and finally a mutual tolerance. The collection also traces the family trauma passed down to the next generation, who must find their own path toward healing.
It is honest work, tender in places and unsparing in others, and it lays much of the groundwork that would later flower in Wheel of Water.
The parents at the heart of this book return, older and seen anew, in the “Family Memories” section of Baldwin's newest and most complete collection.