Michael Battisto is an Oakland-based poet, essayist, editor, teacher, and tutor who worked for many years as a cook and chef in high-end kitchens throughout the country. Having written thousands of poems since he was a boy, but showing them to no one, he began submitting work in 2020. Since then he has had over one hundred and eighty poems accepted in journals such as Rattle, Poet Lore, The Normal School, HAD, Pithead Chapel, and others. His work has been nominated for Best of the Net, a Touchstone Award, and the Pushcart Prize. He is now a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar studying English at UC Berkeley.
Photo by Lila Louise Kahn