diff --git a/src/search_filter/date_filter.py b/src/search_filter/date_filter.py
index 0930523b..fe7ee5e5 100644
--- a/src/search_filter/date_filter.py
+++ b/src/search_filter/date_filter.py
@@ -48,7 +48,9 @@ def date_filter(query, entries, embeddings):
 def parse(date_str, relative_base=None):
     "Parse date string passed in date filter of query to datetime object"
     # clean date string to handle future date parsing by date parser
-    clean_date_str = re.sub(r'later|from now|from today', '', date_str)
+    future_strings = ['later', 'from now', 'from today']
+    prefer_dates_from = {True: 'future', False: 'past'}[any([True for fstr in future_strings if fstr in date_str])]
+    clean_date_str = re.sub('|'.join(future_strings), '', date_str)
 
     # parse date passed in query date filter
     parsed_date = dtparse.parse(
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ def parse(date_str, relative_base=None):
         settings= {
             'RELATIVE_BASE': relative_base or datetime.now(),
             'PREFER_DAY_OF_MONTH': 'first',
-            'PREFER_DATES_FROM': 'future'
+            'PREFER_DATES_FROM': prefer_dates_from
         })
 
     if parsed_date is None:
diff --git a/tests/test_date_filter.py b/tests/test_date_filter.py
index 0c30695c..8abec3af 100644
--- a/tests/test_date_filter.py
+++ b/tests/test_date_filter.py
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ def test_parse():
     assert date_filter.parse('this year', relative_base=test_now) == (datetime(1984, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0), datetime(1985, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0))
     assert date_filter.parse('20 years later', relative_base=test_now) == (datetime(2004, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0), datetime(2005, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0))
 
+    # specific month/date variation
+    assert date_filter.parse('in august', relative_base=test_now) == (datetime(1983, 8, 1, 0, 0, 0), datetime(1983, 8, 2, 0, 0, 0))
+    assert date_filter.parse('on 1983-08-01', relative_base=test_now) == (datetime(1983, 8, 1, 0, 0, 0), datetime(1983, 8, 2, 0, 0, 0))
+
 
 def test_date_filter_regex():
     dtrange_match = re.search(date_filter.date_range_regex, 'head dt>"today" dt:"2020-01-01" tail')