April Christiansen

from “GIRLHOOD, ARIZONA”

—   After Monet’s Haystacks


V. In the Sunlight

Always trying to become 
invisible. The edges 

always blurred. Not knowing 
what is wanted. Haystack, 

mountain, ground, even sky. 
Where does one begin 

and one end? There is nothing 
outside the frame, and there is 

everything. It all softens 
into darkness, into being.


VI. At Giverny, Sunset

All the earth recedes 
into blue. Or is born 
from it. Everyone 

lined up to witness. 
Create, create, create. 
One must keep lighting

the world as it is 
bursting and bursting 
into soft radiance. 


VII. A Foggy Morning

Everything catches 
in the sun. You are 

the dark center. 
The fast burn 

is all sparkle. 
Everything is 

remade 
in the catching, 

in the breaking. 

April Christiansen’s work has appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Crab Orchard Review, Natural Bridge, Passages North, Pebble Lake Review and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the University of Arkansas, and she currently lives in southern Oregon.