The Classical Torso in 1980

Mary Jane Starr was with the National Library of Canada in Ottawa.

In The Classical Torso of 1980 Diana Hayes presents 22 poems, many of which have been either performed on radio and stage or been published in literary periodicals, anthologies, or pamphlets. An earlier collection, Moving Inland: Poems 1977-1978 (Fiddlehead Books), appeared in 1979.

In this collection, Hayes continues the search for understanding and meaning which she began in Moving Inland. Less literal and definitive than a decade earlier, the poet still seeks resolution in the natural world, and most frequently, through the image of water — water infused variously with the power to threaten, to destroy, to nurture, or to heal. It is not remarkable that some of the poems have been performed given the poet’s attention, both literal and figurative, to sound and silence. Of communication she writes, “The most silent questions are resolved / without the cadences a voice carries.” For the ear, she offers phrases such as “salmon-wet sweat” and “small breaths that whispered / Listen to the river.”

Hayes’s voice is an instinctual one and her approach rests on an intuitive grasp of experience. She acknowledges that instinct and intuition bring her close to understanding. “We walk on the fringes of knowing / what’s really out there.” But if Diana Hayes does reach a deeper understanding of human existence, she fails to convey it clearly. These poems offer much in terms of reflection, little by way of revelation.