Hymn
Thirsty for a
Pleistoncene morning,
I’m a graying creature
trotting in & out of shadows.
I rest deep
in the dark belly
of my backyard ravine.
Needy seeds float
in the chilled mist,
my low howl stirs
the sternum,
my ears swivel
for footsteps—
wild crones who live
at the end of time, carry
lupine bundles for healing,
& not afraid to bite back.
Wolf birds pick
at the bones
of my story,
death is our living,
to love sky & creek
so much sometimes
I cannot bear it.
To track & run,
summon & repel
prepare to find
my luminous pack
& fetch
the feeder root
with the sponges
of my worn paws.
Feathers
I’m riddled with pinions.
Some mornings I feel your ghost
heartbeat, tiny bird deep
inside my body—
you parachuted
when the storm
of my mother’s sudden
death made landfall. I collect
plumes from passing vultures
their mythology ignores me
but I am tethered
to their hunger for the dead.
I never named you
but I knew your way
the fractal life for the brother
you left behind
the one who discards me.
Half leaves, half sails
bouquets of sluffed feathers
on my nightstand
my porch
totems on my window sills
dormant quills
to right my sorrow
with the smallest of filaments
held together
by microscopic hooks.
Lineage
This first story
this chin of fire
the Sun and her
daughters, primordial
mirror. These threads
bear the needle’s prayer
fired through the eyes
of every woman’s
weaving. Ocher
medallion looms
large, echoes
each genius
that crushed
then transformed
mineral, insect,
and shellfish.
The aproned goddess
returns, fondles
the crosspoints where
the warp and the weft
join to reclaim the shards
of an ocean’s turquoise
and the flames of a Phoenix
that shudder and spar.
This quilt, poised and
illuminated, greets
another resurrection
in the politics of textile.
Rikki Santer’s poetry has appeared in numerous publications both nationally and abroad including Ms. Magazine, Poetry East, The Journal of American Poetry, Hotel Amerika, Crab Orchard Review, Grimm, Slipstream and The Main Street Rag. Her work has received many honors including five Pushcart and three Ohioana book award nominations as well as a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her eighth collection, Drop Jaw, inspired by the art of ventriloquism, was published by NightBallet Press in the spring. Please contact her through her website: www.rikkisanter.com