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Euphoria and Melancholy in "To Sit Beside a Bird"
By Laura Peters
Library Communications
Posted 9/22/2008
MADISON, Wis. –David Hayman explores the complexity of human life in the most recent publication from Parallel Press, To Sit Beside a Bird is 
Infinite Enough, by detailing the many events of his life, extending from his early years of childhood to the more recent years following his retirement.
Hayman depicts both moments of euphoria and melancholy as he recounts key moments throughout the human life in To Sit Beside a Bird is Infinite Enough. In “Goodbye” Hayman writes, “The rabbi on call knew none of us. /But he managed well enough/With what we told him. /He made Mom’s life/Approximately real.”
Hayman, an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, attended New York University and spent time in the Navy. It was not until the years following his service that he recognized his true passion for poetry and literature—it would be in Paris, France where he would go on to explore such passions. He has been publishing scholarly literature on both Joyce and Beckett since 1958.
Hayman and his wife currently split their time between both Madison, Wisconsin and the secluded Deer Isle, Maine, a place that Hayman calls “the essential community.” The discovery of Deer Isle and construction of their home is often credited by Hayman as the point during which “he rediscovered forgotten joys” and his passion for writing reemerged. Hayman has been previously published in The Eggemoggin Reach Review.
Hayman quickly contrasts such emotions as he reflects on the euphoric early years of his daughter’s upbringing in “Ecology:”
“Sunny morning on the trail
Abruptly, ahead as usual,
She stopped, stooped, pointed,
Shouted, ‘Look, Daddy!
It’s a fly’s nest!’
Indeed, and a fresh one too.
No need to disabuse her.
Bright eyes, a nature lover,
She turned and held my hand.
Then softly, I told her.”
The Parallel Press is an imprint of the University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries. For more information, please visit http://parallelpress.library.wisc.edu/chapbooks/etalia/.
Orders may be sent to:
The Parallel Press
372 Memorial Library
728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 262-2600