Michael Battisto


Five Poems after Paintings by Paul Klee

Architecture Of The Plains


since there are still 
more colors than names,

we set our ladders 
in the tall grass

to see every sky.
each one 	

given its hour— 
though late summer 

is a fixed red
before the loud yellows 

of the september harvest,
and the december horizon 

only adds itself
to the stopped river 

and the slate-grey roads.
the march light is merely 

a thin green stem—
but one we can reach for.



Tree Of Houses


in the morning 
the ghosts and stars

climb the ladders
into the ash tree

to find their 
small houses made

in a previous age,
then watch from 

the windows, 
small as thumbnails,

the red day 
beginning again 



God Of The Northern Woods 


the trees at night 
make one sound—

again.
again.

but the yellow leaves 
are no road.

the blackbirds 
have become branches.

they tell you every direction.
now there is no grief

you belong to,
you see how the trees 

form an older animal
from their quiet colors,

standing upright and
staring back at you.



Connected To The Stars


the starlight falls with all its threads

we continue the stories of far colors 
with the nearest needles

and the oldest cloth,
ourselves 

the lights are alive enough 

they look gently 
through our hands

as we knot together 
the faces of our next children 



Blue Night


our souls will follow a primary color
until that color becomes a world.

this is the genesis of the blue night. 
each doorway means a death,

but the death is gentle,

and is accompanied by the sound 
of another blue night beginning.

Michael Battisto has work that can be found or forthcoming in Poet Lore, The Normal School, HAD, Flypaper Lit, Anti-Heroin Chic, Pithead Chapel, and elsewhere. He has lived in many places, but now he lives in Oakland. You can find him on Twitter @mbattisto3 or @michaelbattisto.com.

 
 

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