Unassuming in New Jersey
by Rikki Santer
Says Paterson [about his destroyed notebook]:
“It's okay. They were just words. Written on water.”
from Paterson (2016) directed by Jim Jarmusch
Poet within poet seduces me—voice that underbellies a devised one
to conjure plainspoken tenderness laid over in longhand through
the slow echoes of five days. It’s a tricky art this magic lantern stuff—
the observed observer in crisp uniform steering a city bus through
the ruffling space of light and shadow, his notebook talisman measuring,
in 24 frames per second, the trances in shots and stanzas. It’s the quiet
pilgrimage of his everyday, the playful bridle of so many loops of
obsessions—each night’s beer at the local bar with grumpy bulldog,
cheery wife’s domestic constellations of orbs black-and-white,
her cupcake parades, the swirling foam at the feet of Great Falls
summoning his lunch-break ritual then serendipity of a fresh journal
gifted by a Japanese poet (aha aha), or lines sparked by a kitchen counter
matchbox, veracity bunted by a laundromat rapper, and look, another
twins sighting. Ideas nestle into rhyming moments for this solitary
poet who ripples through the liminal, and follows me forever home.
Rikki Santer’s poetry has been published widely and has received many honors including several Pushcart and Ohioana book award nominations, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and in 2023 she was named Ohio Poet of the Year. She is a past vice-president of the Ohio Poetry Association and currently is a member of the teaching artist roster of the Ohio Arts Council. Her collection, Resurrection Letter was grand prize short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and her forthcoming collection, Shepherd’s Hour, won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books. https://rikkisanter.com
