Class Notes

By William Heyen

I dreamt that my wife shouted downstairs to tell me
that Peter had called, that I should call him back.
But when I woke, I realized my friend was dead,
had died the week before. If in that dream
I called him, I can’t remember what was on his mind,

maybe nothing except to say he’d found a Gutenberg,
as we used to joke. How much moveable type is there
up there, anyway, & how many monk angels are busy
with illuminations of letters & their own paintings?
Did I once visit the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz,

or was that, too, a dream, or did Peter tell me
he himself visited there during his bodily existence?
I know that we don’t know what Johann looked like,
don’t have a clue, though now there are statues of him.
If anyone ever can, Peter will wrestle a bible from him.

(Peter Dzwonkoski, 1940–2017)

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Dzwonkoski, who directed what is now the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation at Rush Rhees Library from 1978 until his retirement in 2001, died in May at the age of 77. As director of the department, Dzwonkoski played a key role in acquiring several important collections for the River Campus Libraries, including the papers of John Gardner, Frederick Exley, and Colin MacInnes.

Poet William Heyen and his wife, Hannelore, established the William and Hannelore Heyen Collection of Modern Prose and Poetry. Housed in the Hyam Plutzik Library for Contemporary Writing, the materials are considered one of the premier collections of inscribed first editions, manuscripts, and correspondence from major post–World War II American writers.

Heyen wrote “The Bibliomaniac” for Dzwonkoski’s memorial service this spring. Used with permission.