N.C. Poem in Your Pocket—Joseph Bathanti

posted by ncarts in Poetry Month on 04 6th, 2010 | 2 responses

Joseph Bathanti is a professor of creative writing and co-director of Appalachian State University’s Visiting Writers Series in Boone. He moved to N.C. in 1976 as a VISTA volunteer to teach reading and writing at Huntersville Prison, and since then he has lectured, read and conducted workshops all over the state. Bathanti is the author of eight books of poetry, three books of fiction and a book of nonfiction. His book of poems Restoring Sacred Art was recently published by Star Cloud Press.

The Last Time I Drank with Phil

I’m drinking
in the Rose Garden
at Mellon Park with Philip.
Out all night, we find ourselves
burnished in the high
dawn of Easter, Sunday
sun dripping yellow plates
from the Sycamore’s wet green shade.
Spider webs catacomb
the primrose. Angels
spray from silver fountains.
Goldfinches float above
the sequined lawn.
So much light
we shield our eyes,
like the first mendicants,
two old friends, stumbling
upon the risen Christ,
uplifted emerald
bottles of warm Rolling Rock
igniting.