Issue 4.3
Fall 2024
Rikki Santer
Swallower
Summon the annals of circus trick
to swallow the tidy parable of passport
for the marriage of body and mind—
Welcome the saber’s hungry beak as you throw
back your head—Nothing miraculous about a safe passage,
you’ve toughened your throat with utterances practiced and blunt—
Your gullet, your trained witness—
Your stomach, dark ruby of sideshow—
The slippery slide of in and out—
A lifetime of death-defying stunts
for as long as your love may last.
​
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 currently serving as vice-president of the Ohio Poetry Association and is a member of the teaching artist roster of the Ohio Arts Council. Her twelfth poetry collection, Resurrection Letter: Leonora, Her Tarot, and Me, is a sequence in tribute to the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Please contact her through her website, https://rikkisanter.com.