Light, Magic & April in France

Light, Magic & April in France

By Mary Dezember


I was fortunate to be in France with my daughters April 1 through April 7.

A rare, special light that looked like what love must look like shifted each day to the realm of extraordinary.

Moments blossomed into a certain magic created by this astonishing sunlight.

I captured a bit of the sense of these wonder moments in some of my photos. And I wasn’t trying. No matter what photo I took, it seemed the sun figured out how to sneak in to make a glorious appearance and add its magic.

There are no filters used in these photos. I just snapped them quickly with my iPhone 13 mini.

This is the first of a series of blog posts in which I will share my photos of light, magic and April in France with accompanying haiku or other poetry I am writing for each photo.

I hope you enjoy! I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Sun has come out of



hiding from gloom, night and from



its own blinding face.

Boats, tree, bamboo rest

in nature’s magic mirror:

they live their beauty.

Any moment now

Fairies will appear, laughing:

They, too, love the sun.


Sparkles dance on stream

celebrating secrets with

magical willows.

These willows are not

weeping; they are sun catchers

at nature’s window.

Happy duck quacks a

rippling tune of lily pads,



swimming jauntily.

Gnome Home. Knock, knock, guys!

Are you there? Are you sleeping

away this glorious day?

Light creates surprise



and doubles beauty — daughters,

Monet’s bridge times two!

Every petal, leaf

and stone sing new, shimmering

light songs. Path leads on.

NOTE: Haiku by Mary Dezember
Photos from Monet’s Gardens in Giverny, France by Mary Dezember
All photos are by Mary Dezember


About the Blog Author

Mary Dezember, PhD, seen here taking a selfie in front of Sacré-Coeur Basilica on Montmartre in Paris, France in April 2023, is a poet, an author of fiction and non-fiction, an educator, arts scholar, arts advocate, and a lover of visual, verbal, musical art, and the beauty of language.

Mary earned her PhD in Comparative Literature, specialization in Comparative Arts, from Indiana University in 2000, with PhD minors in Art History and Performance Studies.

Professor Emeritus of English, she taught Comparative Arts, Art History, Creative Writing and Literature at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) from August 2000 to May 2021. At New Mexico Tech, she also served as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chair of the Department of Communication, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences.

She enjoys performing her poetry and advocating the creativity of others. She is a tour guide for Santa Fe Art Tours. She is the founder and host of Creatives in Conversation.

Her publications include several non-fiction essays and articles and two books of poetry: Earth-Marked Like You (Sunstone Press) and Still Howling (CreateSpace Independent Publishing), with the title poem being First Place winner of the Best Beat Poem Contest, 2016, sponsored by Beatlick Press. Her novel, Wild Conviction (Brilliant Moon Press) is in the works to be published.

Her writing examines the historical basis for contemporary social issues and the internal quest or rite of passage to identity. She aspires to inspire champions to create a new and better day.


Copyright © 2023 Mary Dezember
Dezember, LLC