#MIDDLEBURY
Palladium
James Brasfield
A cortege of clouds’
shifting planes
reflected on a river,
the current’s weave deepens,
yet motionless
the dramatization of
a fern unfolding,
light illuminating the air
for a moment’s threshold,
when time, where we stand,
corresponds to the day
held firm,
derived from the elegance of
the equation
for what was once never here.
About this poem
“I’m thinking about moments of safety, wherever we find ourselves, about place before there was place or time among the elements of our solar system, and of all that recedes.” – James Brasfield
About James Brasfield
James Brasfield is the author of “Infinite Altars” (Louisiana State University Press, 2016). He teaches at Penn State University and lives in State College, Penn.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
(c) 2016 James Brasfield. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
