Passaic

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AVAILABLE APRIL 1, 2025

By: Paula Neves

Passaic is a collection of poems that reflect on the Passaic, an 80-mile long river coursing through prime New Jersey real estate in counties that run the gamut from affluence to working class. Apart from the river's association with William Carlos Williams' Patterson and other works, and its prominence in the greater Newark metro area, it is also one of the biggest environmental atrocities in the state-and the country.

When I recently mentioned the river to an out-of-state acquaintance, his first response was, "Worst Superfund site in the country, " which isn't entirely accurate, but not far off the mark. Williams' epic was published around the time the toxic assault on the Passaic was reaching its tipping point, and the pollution along its lower half was affecting middle and working class residents, which included immigrants and others from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, many of whom worked in factories or lived in communities along or near its banks, the kinds of communities that have always made New Jersey strong and distinctive, despite our complicated histories.

The actual and spiritual descendants of those mid 20th century inhabitants, and of the Lenape long before them who fished peacefully in its once pristine waters, continue to be affected by the Passaic's destruction, its fitful, politically charged rehabilitation, and the current challenges of climate change and "economic development." They and the river deserve many poems and songs. This collection offers up some of these, primarily from the perspective of immigrant and first generation Americans-as prayers, laments, even humorous musings-and acknowledges that there is so much more that needs to be remembered-the pains, losses, and joys that galvanize us to be mindful stewards of what we have been given, or what we have taken from those who came before us. Our future depends on it. Rivers, both literal and metaphorical, are deep legacies. The Passaic is a symbol of both New Jersey and America.