Not a Hero

The kind of poetry James Wright referred to as “the poetry of a grown man,” embracing adversities and shocking realities without idealizations or anger but with the distance of an observer who has seen a lot.
—Ximena Gómez, Conversations about Water/Conversaciones sobre Agua

A one-eyed man working up the courage to talk to a waitress, a one-armed butcher in the French countryside, an artist who stalks prey and paints masterpieces with blood, Christiansen conjures “sharp encounters” leaving only the bones on your plate and these living ghosts in your head.
—Scott Ferry, Sapphires on the Graves

Christiansen gets his Whitman on and sings a song of himself, his heroes, and those he’s met along the way. An eclectic mix for the most eclectic of times.
—Chad Parenteau, Associate Editor Oddball Magazine and Stone Soup Poetry Author of Can’t Republic: Erasures and Blackouts