Reasons for Staying Up Late

to curl up with the cats

in the bed of stars
that have drifted through the ceiling 

to listen to coyotes
converse with the moon

to breathe in the intoxicating smell 

of the night blooming jasmine
drifting in the window
that calls me to dance

through the backyard in my nightgown

because my midnight muse

has arrived
carrying a basket of words

that must be used before dawn 

and because you are asleep
and waiting

and because nothing
is sweeter than returning
to the curve of your back against mine
to wake to the orange hush
of morning together

Wheeled Home

I want a house with wheels 

not a trailer. 

I don't care for trailers.

I lived in one once.

It made me feel untethered  

as if  I was in a silver boat

that was landlocked yet somehow drifting  

I was lost but I didn't want to know it.

I want my house to be the house

I live in now but with really 

amazing wheels,  and also a rudder

so it could  go in rivers, oceans even.

I fell in love with my home slowly

it was like an arranged marriage. 

I loved my old neighborhood 

and my old neighbors.

I  didn't want to move but one day 

the love of my house 

and my yard knocked me down.

We have a passionate affair now.

I want it to go with me everywhere.

So my house will sprout wheels 

and a rudder and sails but not wings. 

well, maybe wings, too, why not.

The  house will go 

wherever I want

Italy, Lake Como, perhaps,

and the African plains,

the moors of england

to be with the wild ponies again

the streets of Paris,

and to shanghai for dinner.  

I will be far away and home too

and the cats 

will look out the windows

puzzled but content. 

Monarch Grove

they soar like tiny winged cathedrals

their windows open to heaven

an infinity of butterflies weave themselves

through the Eucalyptus trees

filling them with a quickening light 

the smell around us in mint, honey, and pine

the clouds are so far above

we live only in sunshine

a kiss under a Monarch cluster 

a butterfly kiss,

the world contains everything 

in this moment and more

we are royalty

counting our sudden wealth, branch by golden branch