Jim Chessing

Monarch

A large monarch butterfly has found its way into my fall yard, a rare sight these days. Twenty-five years ago, their kind visited regularly, and we planted butterfly bushes to encourage them. We took our then six-year-old son to their winter grounds at Natural Bridges State Beach, a eucalyptus grove just off the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz, California. In the morning cool they clustered in the trees, one atop the other, maximizing body heat to stay warm. At high sun, they peeled apart and filled the air between the trees with orange snow. One landed on the back of our son’s hand and lingered a precious moment. Last December my wife and I went back, and there were none. They moved on and let go of that part of the world.

alone
a particle of light
a swarm
a poem written
on the salt sky

Seeing one at any time of year is a gift. An ambassador from another world, another time, it discovers a still-thriving clump of Jupiter’s beard at the opposite corner of the deck below the grape arbor. It sups, hops to another blossom, sups again, then flies over the fence to our neighbor before returning a moment later to partake anew.

here, there,
the everywhere
at once
breath so faint
yet touches everything

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About the Authior

Jim Chessing writes haiku, tanka, and lately he has forayed into haibun and tanka prose. He won first prize in the Tanka Society of America (TSA) International Tanka Contest and participates in the TSA Mentorship Program. His first tanka collection, A Volcano, A Peony, was published in 2024. A retired psychologist, he lives with his wife in San Ramon, California.  

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