Nathaniel Lachenmeyer

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer is an award-winning disabled author of books for children and adults. His first book, The Outsider, which takes as its subject his late father’s struggles with schizophrenia and homelessness, was published by Broadway Books. Nathaniel has forthcoming/recently published poems with North Dakota Quarterly, About Place Journal, F(r)iction, Santa Clara Review, Epiphany, The Normal School, Berkeley Poetry Review and DIAGRAM. Nathaniel lives outside Atlanta with his family.

Please visit: www.NathanielLachenmeyer.com

 
The Oracle of Delphi

Don’t speak
to me of Delphic

utterances.
I have been

to Delphi;
I have heard

the Oracle.
I can still hear

the sound the
glass salt shaker

made when it
exploded against

the wall
between us

on that last
family vacation.

The next day
was Delphi.

I stood among
the ruins and

listened
to the Oracle.

Its prophecy
was clear:

a shattering silence.

 
Note: A delphic utterance is an expression for a statement that has the ambiguity associated with the words of the oracle of Delphi.

Originally published by Birdcoat Quarterly

 
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Poetry in this post: © Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
Published with the permission of Nathaniel Lachenmeyer