Monarch Chronicles

"So far from the road
that its red was lost in the trees
like a spark in smoke,
a cardinal surprised me."
  –Ted Kooser, from Winter Morning Walks







july 17


2:30 in the afternoon, 78 in the shade


Zurfluh Road out in country Albany
bisects new shades of green left and right,
each cornfield an emerald jungle
so deep by mid July that it seems
that inside might rest lost cities.
I pull down my long sleeves, tighten
the cuffs of my jeans and walk
through the ancient ruins of Bergamot,
and watch the flying jewels of nectaring
moths dabble at the juice of field thistle.
From the road you could not have seen
the native cone flowers in purple
headdress gather around the green
fires to woo in unison the Monarch.