MoMA’s Pond, by Diana Dinverno

Water Lilies, by Claude Monet (France). 1914-1926.

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MoMA’s Pond
 
Wandering galleries filled with Van Gogh,
Picasso, Matisse, I find a dim room, 
its curved wall lit with a stretch of saturated blue,  
water lilies, reflection of sky and pink-tinged clouds.
 
A golden-haired woman, face soft with wonder, 
studies curator’s notes, turns toward the artist’s pond. 
Drawn by certain joy, I approach--
Have you been to Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie?
 
It has canvases like this one, I say, 
Monet’s gift to the country he loved.
With a shake of her head, she speaks, reveals 
distance traveled to walk along this shore.  
 
She smiles, enters Giverny, 
gifts this silhouette of a sonnet to me.

Diana Dinverno

Diana Dinverno was a finalist for the New Rivers Press 2015 Short Story Prize. Her work appears in The MacGuffin, Peacock Journal, Peninsula Poets, and American Fiction, Volume 15: The Best Unpublished Stories by New and Emerging Writers. More at: dianadinverno.com.