Wednesday, July 31, 2013

When





When the soft
fabric of dusk
begins to wrap
around the shoulders
of summer trees...

When the swallows
and waxwings have
finished swooping
for insects
over the water...

When the fireflies
begin flashing
yellow-green
in the dark
understory...

When the bats
flutter erratically
through the
dimming sky
light...

When the evening crickets
secretly resume
their wing-ed,
scraping
static...

When the day
is slowly
introduced
to the
night...


Will you be
present, 
attentive,
and astonished,
all over again?
©  2013  Richard Havenga




Monday, July 29, 2013

Black Wings



Wings - a fold of  four,  flat, black, exclamation marks.





Abdomen - a cold, narrow tube of blue flame.




Head - a metallic robot with mechanical movement.




 
 Legs - a six-pack of stiff, angular, threads and fine spines.

© 2013  Richard Havenga








Click on photos to enlarge.

Photo Location:

Fallasburg Park,  (Fallasburg)  Kent County,  Michigan


Black-winged Damselfly - Calopteryx maculata


To learn more, see:   "Delicate, Dazzling, Damselfly" 

@ "Walk With Father Nature" August 11, 2012.  More photos, more Entomology.





Saturday, July 27, 2013

Willow Leaf




count the pure dew drops
on a single willow leaf
infinity waits




Click on photo to enlarge.
Photo Location:  Lowell,  (Lowell)  Michigan (Michigan)
Weeping Willow - Salix babylonica



Friday, July 26, 2013

Tell Me



Tell me,
this morning;
which bird
is calling nearby-
Pewee or Phoebe?



  
Tell me,
this afternoon;
what direction
the clouds are drifting
above your head.




Tell me,
this evening;
about the quality of light
gathering on the
trunks of the trees.




Tell me,
tonight;
how the moon
is changing-
waxing or waning?




Tell me,
tomorrow;
what you remember
of the gifts
you were given 
today.

© 2013  Richard Havenga




Photo Location:

1. Home Road
2. Home Woods
2. Home Land

Click on photos to enlarge.





Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Silver Sphere






A silver sphere of seeds
feels the first faint breath
of a morning breeze.
 
Waits patiently for
the afternoon wind,
or the bump
of a rabbit's foot,
or the brush
of a fox's tail;
to release these
showy, silken
parachutes
into time.

A launch 
of hope,
and faith,
carried
into the future.


Meadow Goat's Beard / Yellow Goatsbeard   (Tragopogon dubius)

Click on photo to enlarge.

Photo Location

Cannon Township,  (Cannon)  Kent County,  Michigan

 
 
 
 
 


Monday, July 22, 2013

Blackwater Cloth





This warm July morning,
exactly mid-summer,
bright green ovals,
glossy as emeralds,
float on black water,
flat as fabric.

Bluegills and sunfish
pop snails off
the underside.

Dragonflies and damselflies 
snatch gnats
off the surface.

Life                 
        grows on,
                           above,
                                        around,
                                                        within,
                                                                       below.

These glossy
green ovals
floating flat 
as fabric
on the cloth
of black water.
 

© 2013  Richard Havenga








Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park,  (Pickerel)  (Fred Meijer Nature Preserve)  Kent County,  Michigan

Click on photo to enlarge.




Thursday, July 18, 2013

Possibilities

 
 
 
Stratus blanket thickens,
overcasting the sky.
Soft summer morning
promises possibilities.

Fish break the surface
of the lazy Rock River.
Ready to launch the boat,
throw out the first cast.

©  2013  Richard Havenga





With Gratitude to:  Kay and Jerry Karlson

Photo Location:

Rock River,  (Rock)  Dixon,  (Dixon)  Illinois

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Monday, July 15, 2013

Simplicity




five, heart-shaped petals
pale, yellow simplicity
soft summer morning
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Click on photo to enlarge) 
 
Sulphur Cinquefoil - Potentilla recta
 
 Photo Location:  Cannon Township,  (Cannon)  Kent County,  Michigan
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Gold Rings





water's smooth surface
collects sprinkles at sunset
returns rings of gold
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photo Location:  Pickerel Lake Park, (Pickerel)  Kent County,  Michigan
 
 
 
 

Monday, July 8, 2013

A Wing and A Prayer



I saw the Spirit
fly above the mountains
and placed a prayer
upon its wings.

Now I wait
in patient silence
to accept with grace
what praying brings.

© 2013 Richard Havenga









Photo Location:

Yosemite National Park,  (Yosemite)  California





Thursday, July 4, 2013

"Angel's Harp"



The first breeze of morning,
soft as a bird's breathing,
strokes these silken strands.

Vibrant filaments of light,
a pulsing spectrum of color, 
rainbows in silent vibration.

Can you begin to imagine
the holy notes of praise
being played upon this
delicate angel's harp?

© 2013 Richard Havenga







Photo Location:

Rock River,  Dixon,  Illinois














Tuesday, July 2, 2013

John Burroughs



I want to share with you these beautiful volumes that I purchased at a used book sale at the Cascade Library. (KDL-Cascade) The date? July 4, 1975. Our son, Aaron, was only two months old. I was only 27. Now, at 65, I still have these books stored in an antique, mission oak, bookcase, with sliding glass doors.

Each of these volumes is 5" X 8" (13 X 20 cm), and, as you can see, embossed with exquisite design and styling. Look at the three-dimensional depth, the texture, the fine detail within the vines, the roots, the gold etching inside the wreathed circle.


You are looking at John Burroughs Complete Nature Writings
They were published in 1879, 18951904, 1907, and 1921. 



Would you like to read some excerpts? Okay:

"...can there be anything more delicious than the first warm April rain, -- the first offering of the softened and pacified clouds of spring? The quickening spirit of the rain is needed... charged with the very essence of spring."
- Vol. III  Is It Going To Rain?

" I am always at home when I see the passenger pigeon. Few spectacles please me more than to see clouds of these birds sweeping across the sky, ... They are in such multitudes, they people the whole air; they cover townships, ..."
- Vol. IV A Bird Medley

"... love of nature has high religious value. .. It has given people an inexhaustible field for inquiry, ... It has made them contented and at home whenever they are in nature -- in the house not made with hands."
- Vol. V  The Faith of a Naturalist

Even the spines exhibit depth, design, and dimension.


"How completely the life of a bird revolves about its nest, its home! In the case of the wood thrush, its life and joy seem to mount higher and higher as the nest prospers. The male becomes a fountain of melody; his happiness waxes day by day; he makes little triumphal tours about the neighborhood, and pours out his pride and gladness in the ears of all. How sweet, how well-bred, is his demonstration! But let any accident befall that precious nest, and what a sudden silence falls upon him!
- Vol. VI Glimpses of Wild Life

"Some time in October the crows begin to collect together in large flocks and establish their winter quarters. They choose some secluded wood for a roosting-place, and thither all the crows for many square miles of country betake themselves at night, and thence they disperse in all directions again in the early morning. The crow is a social bird, a true American; no hermit or recluse is he. The winter probably brings them together  in these large colonies for purposes of sociability..."
- Vol. VII  Nature With Closed Doors


For 38 years I've owned Volumes III-IX.  I'm still searching for Volumes I & II.  Any help?

 
 "I think I was born under happy stars, with a keen sense of wonder, which has never left me, ... One of the best things a man can bring into the world with him is natural humility of spirit. About the next best thing he can bring, and they usually go together, is an appreciative spirit -- a loving and susceptible heart."
- Vol. VIII  An Outlook Upon Life
 
 

"Oh, the worlds and systems of worlds that the night reveals, -- the outlook off into infinity which the darkness brings! When the day is done, when the night falls, how are the heavens opened! how is the universe extended! how are the glory and the sublimity of creation multiplied!
- Vol. IX  The Summit of the Years






Important Note for local readers:

CASCADE LIBRARY - part of the extensive Kent District Library (KDL) will again be holding its annual FOURTH OF JULY - USED BOOK SALE. This year- 2013; every year. Be there! (Cascade Library)



(click on photos to enlarge)

Photo Location:  Home Library