Standing Still

 

A translucent night cloud

glides over the full moon,

continues its journey east,

while the moon arcs west.

I stand still on this planet,

listening to the soft sounds

of this warm summer night:

crickets, Katydids, and Gray Tree Frogs.

And nearby, from our woods,

a Barred Owl is asking:

"Who cooks for you?

Who cooks for youuuu...?"

Before I go back inside,

I'll watch the yellow-green light

of fireflies;

pulsing... pulsing.

I will try to predict where

the next little lantern light

will ignite, 

then I will go inside to write.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Sky

2. Home Deck

3. Seidman Park - Kent County - Michigan

4. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

breathe

The evening breathes
its final sighs,
catching my attention;
both ears and eyes,

lifting slender branches
like a large green fan
so that I feel
the cool air
brush my skin,
just before it leaves.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Stringed Instrument

Is it possible,
do you think,
to hear the breeze
pass through
the fine, silken threads
of a spider web?

If so,
what would it sound like?
Certainly there must be
some kind of vibration.
A very subtle tone.
A quiet music.

If only we could discern it. 

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary - Naples, Florida

2.  Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

lazy river

a lazy river

rolls slowly to the pale sky

seeking the ocean

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Rock River - Dixon, Illinois

Taste of Words

The wild black raspberry
is plucked from its cane.

The soft-skinned apricot
is picked from its stem.

The crisp, juicy apple
is pulled from its branch.

The poet tastes selected words,
harvested from our delicious language.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Cannon Township Trails - Kent County - Michigan 

2. Blok Orchard - Kent County - Michigan 

moss

greening logs and stumps

velveting the winter rocks

moss softens hardness

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Seal Beach Trail - Nanaimo, British Columbia 

2.  Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

Supplemental Grace

Beauty in nature is not essential.
It is grace supplemented by the Creator.

Are the intricate patterns 
and complex functions
that we witness necessary?

Have you examined, close-up:

The design of a flower's inflorescence?

The veins in a dragonfly's wings?

The barbs and barbules in a bird's feathers?

The minuscule scales of a butterfly's wings?

Beauty in nature is not essential,

but I am grateful every time 

I witness these gifts of creation.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Cannon Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve - Fort Meyers, Florida

4. Vergennes Township - Kent County - Michigan

5. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Grass-hopping

On a mid-summer walk,
two steps into a hayfield,
young grasshoppers, by the dozens,
are snapping their new wings.
Short test flights into the green.

Leaping and landing,
leaping and landing
on stiff blades of grass.
Steps ahead of my
invading hiking boots.

The sound of dry parchment
spattering these acres.
Sprinkling the green field
like dry drops of rain
just ahead of the storm.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Passing Seasons

This spring and summer have passed too quickly.

I missed entirely the hidden, drooping blossoms 
of the Mayapple.

When did the Wild Columbines display
their scarlet crowns adorned with yellow?

Wild Black Raspberries have already ripened,
with Dewberries and Wild Blackberries soon to follow.

Queen Anne's Lace is thriving
along roadsides and abandoned fields.

I do not want the summer's end
to bring on the goldenrods and asters.

It will mean the approach of autumn,
and remind me of too much time
spent reading books and writing
about opportunities lost;
when I should have been
out walking everyday
in fields and woods,
along rivers and streams,
and feeling grateful for
these daily blessings
that make up the seasons
of my life. 

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

4. & 5. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

6. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan