MATISSE'S WALK

To walk with Matisse
by Notre Dame Cathedral
is to take enigmatic notice
of shading in after dusk
in a dark pastoral setting
from fate's breaths of incense
in a geometric shift of time
as a whimsical bird surfaces
high on the boulevard
out of a repainted June heat
you are in a singular intimacy
with cut-outs of macrame
by his windowpane canvas
borne from a floral of laughter
when template shadows of earth
are renewed from painted sills
in a rainy seasoned garden
and by the flats budding trees
turning a horizon around
at an easel in the Paris park
by the landscape's convoys corner
across his wistful living fingers
in a thrilled wish
of an artist's twisted shapes
by night light feverish lanterns
yet not too embarrassed
of pardoning a woman in a hat.