nathaniel lachenmeyer / poem

The Oracle of Delphi

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

---

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, stories and essays with X-R-A-Y, Iron Horse, North Dakota Quarterly, Citron Review, Reed Magazine, Potomac Review, Epiphany, Berkeley Poetry Review, About Place Journal, and DIAGRAM. Nathaniel lives outside Atlanta with his family. www.NathanielLachenmeyer.com.