Michael Battisto

Rose Garden

So now the world is rose shaped.
The light in our room
is the light through a rose window.

Sometimes a house opens:
it becomes
a rose.

The night again
will be a vast hallway
of roses.

We can choose which color
of petal
will be pressed into our sleep.

There is a rose
being held
inside all of our faces.

Our body will always
be part
of the rose garden.

This is the idea of roses:
there can only be one Beauty.
And we belong to it.

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Michael Battisto is a poet and chef. His work can be found or forthcoming in About Place Journal, NOON, Frogpond, Acorn and Modern Haiku. Born in Chicago, he lived in New York, Wyoming, Arizona and Texas. Now he lives in Oakland, California.