by Alison

December moon -

a lone mosquito flutters

by the porch light

by Kelly

fallen apples

flattened by tires

bees can’t resist

by Kelly

* * *

Hello, Miss Monarch.

Mexico is far away.

Fly, I tell her. Fly!

Several years ago, Hubby and I took a trip to Mexico. We did not go to the beach. We went to the central highlands looking for monarch butterflies.

Every year, monarch butterflies from all over North America journey to this part of Mexico in order to pass the winter someplace warm, meet up with other monarchs and breed. The monarchs arrive in Mexico in November and stay until March. Peak monarch-viewing season is January and February.

Hubby and I, though, were in Mexico in November. Our guide promised us that more monarchs were coming, but we could hardly believe how many were already there.

Early morning, pre-sunrise, is the best time to go and see the monarchs. To ward off the night-time chill, the butterflies hang together in clumps so dense that the branches of trees sag underneath the collective weight of the monarchs.

The butterflies are waiting, patiently, for the sun to rise. As soon as a ray of sun hits a clump of hanging monarchs long enough to warm them up, they burst into a cloud of flying butterflies and fill the sky. There are so many of them that you can actually hear their wings beating!

As I look back over my life so far, I know that I have been blessed with many exceptional travel experiences. However, my trip to the monarch reserves in Mexico ranks among the most amazing. It was truly a spiritual experience, which surprised me. I expected to be awed by the sheer number of butterflies I saw. I did not expect to feel like I had had an encounter with the divine.

Ever since that trip, I view monarch butterflies differently. In the past two weeks, I’ve noticed several flittering about as I take my dogs on walks. I stop and watch them dance through the air and I’m convinced that, although they my loop around a patch of flowers, in general they all seem to be moving south. Whey they fly past me, I always make sure to attach a small prayer to each. May you make it to Mexico, I whisper.

by Alison

moths flicker and fall

around my computer screen -

half past one passes

by Kelly

I’m reading when a

spider decends into my

view — I make a wish

by Kelly

creepy tickle of

invisible spider webs –

I walk in the woods

by Kelly

How did it get in?

A wasp bumps against the screen.

I open the door.

by Alison

After work

flies circle my head -

Is this haiku?

by Kelly

ants on peonies —

I envision a swing set

in our backyard

by Alison

a large ant carries

a small dead fly on the floor-

I kill it