At the Edge

As the smooth silk of dusk
approaches the edge of night,

music within the soft breeze
tapers into a quiet calm.

A time for contemplation
at the hard edge of old age.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Moran, Wyoming

2. Moran, Wyoming

3. Santa Catalina Mountains ~ Arizona

Manipulation

Early summer wind
pushes at the edge
of these green woods,
where long branches
reach to receive it.

New maple leaves
inverted, and uplifted,
to expose their undersides.

Riding the wind,
and flexible enough
to accept manipulation.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Video Location: Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Photo Location: Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Kent County - Michigan

Cottonwood

Still glossy
with moisture,
unfurling from
recent birth.

The blade is distinctly veined,
the margin conspicuously toothed.

Cottonwood leaves
flap on flattened petioles,
shiver in the slightest
breath of breeze.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: 

1, 2, & 3.  Pickerel Lake Park ~ Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County, Michigan

4. Luton Park - Kent County - Michigan

I Sit

I sit.
Beneath this arch of sky,
under the sublime influence
of Lake Michigan;
scanning the far horizon,
trying to perceive the slight 
curvature of the earth
at the edge of the sky. 

I sit.
Sheltered in the green shade
of an enormous White Oak,
while the drowsy summer sun
warms the surrounding fields
abundant with the soft faces
of Queen Anne's Lace.

I sit.
On the bouldered bank
of the Arkansas River,
bordered with Ponderosa Pines;
exhilarated by the rush of current,
mesmerized by the sound of rapids,
and time,
racing 
past.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Michigan

2. Grand Haven State Park - Michigan

3. Dixon, Illinois

4. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

5. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

Cranes

Sandhill Cranes return;

long neck, stick legs, and broad wings

awkwardly graceful

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. McCarthy Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Open Spaces

From the sagebrushed flats,

through the red-stoned canyons,

over the junipered plateaus,

and into the forested mountains,
I crave these open spaces.

These wild places
where Western light
colors the atmosphere,
brings the very air alive.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Canyon de Chelly National Monument - Arizona

3. Flaming Gorge - Utah

4. West Elk Mountains - Colorado

Traces of Lavender

A star of green sepals
supports five delicate petals
of the Wild Geranium.

Traces of lavender
scattered in the June woods;
waiting for your summer eyes.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Sensuous Summer

Striving 
for these sensory images
to blossom into words,

I am amazed and delighted
when a wildflower description
glows on the page;

like this Pink Lady's Slipper
thrusting
from a bed of pine needles,

to be illuminated
by the morning sun
in the early June light

of this sensuous summer,
rising toward its
climax.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

1 > 5 @ Townsend Park - 2012 & 2020 - Kent County - Michigan

Pentecost

"... they were gathered in one place, united in prayer." ~ Acts 2:1

Illumination
from the Holy Spirit
provides the light
by which we work.

Inhaled as inspiration,
changed from within,
released in a new form.

The breath becomes art.
The vision becomes mission:
The love must be lived.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Pray, Montana

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Kent County - Michigan