For Immediate Release, Delphi
William L. Ramsey (he/him) is a Professor at Lander University. His first book of poetry, Dilemmas, is available from Clemson University Press.
POETRY
William R. Ramsey
8/5/20241 min read
Stiffened by the sumptuary blending
of hereditary sorrow and the sum
perfection of tomorrow’s unforeseen
frustration, a perturbation of the field
persuades us that tonight will be unlike
today. Apologies to perturbations
past, whose bloody entrails yesterday
forebode the bulk of this: the small red
berries grown recalcitrant and sullen,
exogamous legumes withdrawing from
our touch in such a way as to suggest
a recurring trauma. All oracles
agree, there will be more trauma. Current
trends toward increasing workplace
automation will continue. What we
feel, however, seems more like a bedsheet
billowing out, snapped in air by someone
wanting it to settle like a parachute.
The sheet, in this view, represents unformed
expectations, hopes, desires, soon to be
ridged and valleyed by real human passion.
Surely it is enough, we tell ourselves,
that Xochiquetzal releases Yucca
petals from her fingertips as she spins,
softening, slowing this moment. Indeed,
sweetheart, indeed. Yet, who can see what
flowers will come to her hand on the far
side of those mountains, still settling across
our hips, still fraught with snowmelt and frozen
moss, to slow things down or soften them?
More of William R. Ramsey's poetry can be found in The Arcanist: Volume 1
William L. Ramsey (he/him) is a Professor at Lander University. His poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Poetry East, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Northwest, The South Carolina Review, and Southern Poetry Review. His first book of poetry, Dilemmas, is available from Clemson University Press.
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