“The nature of the writer is to observe the world, remaining at least somewhat detached. This poem, ‘Aperture,’ explores notions of vision. What happens when the writer becomes the object, instead of the subject, of perception? And what happens when, after feeling invisible for many years, the speaker is, in the lens of a movie camera or across the table from someone, suddenly seen? ‘Aperture’ contains a poem within a poem. The line referenced in “𐓡𐓪 ́𐓟𐓤𐓘 /Ho’-e-ga/Snare” (which includes the Osage orthography) reads ‘𐓩𐓣𐓪𐓨𐓘͘𐓜𐓣͘ niu’-mon-bthin [I walk in the water].’ The phonetic spelling is from A Dictionary of the Osage Language by Francis La Flesche.”
—Elise Paschen