For Immediate Release, Delphi

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.

Art by Kim Holm