Although it walks stiffly,
the swan flies gracefully
with wings whooshing;
swims peacefully, elegantly,
creating a silent wake.
A ghost swan
leaving a water trail
that lingers.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. McCarthy Lake - East Grand Rapids - Michigan
2. Reeds Lake - Grattan Township - Michigan
These paper pages, flat and white,
stacked with fine blue lines,
are hungry for words,
fervent for verses.
So I walk along the path,
or make my own way,
searching for opportunities,
exploring the possibilities.
My photographer's eye
supports my poet's sentiment,
and a close-up lens
enhances the effect.
So I peer into this flower's
inflorescence,
a common Orange Daylily,
an orange ornament,
an instrument trumpeting
from this roadside orchestra.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Home Road - Cannonsburg, Michigan
The long daylight
of our summer days
has diminished,
has been replaced
by late afternoon dusks.
Dusks that introduce
nights of long darkness.
So, less time outdoors
for work and recreation,
but more time indoors
for quiet hours of reading,
and time for writing
poems about light.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
The weightless flight of snow flakes
slowly flutter-falling through our view
on this calm December afternoon.
Please reveal the peace you feel
with words as precise and intricate
as these perfect, delicate crystals.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan
I am following this trail
through the foothills of mountains.
On a new journey of exploration.
A slow walk of observation.
Eyes and ears alert.
Absorbing this experience.
Paying attention to the land.
Engaging the headwind.
Listening to the message
emerging from the earth.
Perceiving God's glory
within His marvelous creation.
Woven with divine transcendence.
Becoming an inheritor of the word.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Silverton, Colorado
3. West Elk Mountains Wilderness - Colorado
walking on water
Buffleheads perform fast dance
leave their liquid tracks
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location:
Pickerel Lake Park - Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan
Seasons are passing through us
from this vast ocean of sky.
A soft rain shower may be rinsing your face.
The wind could be furrowing your hair.
Red and yellow leaves falling at your feet.
Snow accumulating on your shoulders.
Silver-edged clouds holding the ceiling above your head.
And the light.
It's always the light,
performing miracles
in front of your eyes.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Buena Vista, Colorado
2. Kent County - Michigan
These separate words
become lines of poetry
floating across blank pages
like leaves on the river.
Paper-clipped together
to be reviewed again,
to be revised again,
released in the future.
Eventually assembled
into a discernable
current of perception.
Poets are keepers of the past
and our hope for the future.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Grand River - Kent County - Michigan
2. Murray Lake - Kent County - Michigan
3. Fallasburg Park - Lowell, Michigan
4. Cannonsburg, Michigan
If you are reading this, could you
please step outside for a moment?
I will need an accurate description
of the clouds, if you have some,
and the direction they are drifting,
if you have time to observe.
Next, could you name the leaf
that is fluttering past your face;
explain the shape of the lobes
and the pattern of its veins bulging underneath?
Also, would you identify all the birds
you are seeing and hearing,
with precise names for their colors,
and exact translations of their calls?
While you are out there,
hopefully in the quiet country,
I would like a thorough report
on the quality of light that surrounds you.
If you are still reading,
and if you have a moment,
please send your entire narrative to me,
or, if you want more time,
continue your collection of perceptions.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Kamloops, British Columbia
2. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan
3. Elegant Trogon ~ Patagonia State Park - Arizona
4. Santa Catalina Mountains - Arizona
Are you still
filling that space
between birth and death?
Taking enough time
to embrace
the unique gifts of nature?
Walking on paths
not paved or cemented,
but soft as leaves on soil?
Reading more books
rather than
staring at screens?
Traveling to
those national parks
you've always wanted to see?
Have you learned
how to fall in love
with this time you were given?
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan
3. Home Library
4. Glacier National Park - Montana
5. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery - San Diego, California
for Aaron Havenga (April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994)
Attempting to measure time;
the volume that I've lived,
my memory is flawed, fractured.
Too many cracks in the container
where important thoughts escape.
Too many vacancies in the vessel
intended to carry experiences.
Aaron's absence has lingered
for twenty-eight years.
My wife and daughter help me remember
the sweet memories of his life.
I treasure each story they tell,
recalling the precious reflections.
Gathering the priceless fragments.
Trying to store them in my fractured heart.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Pentwater, Michigan
for Barb Brege
She was a teacher
seeking to reveal the gifts
her young students
were still unaware of.
A classroom of faces,
their eyes bright with sparkle,
their dreams waiting
to be unmasked.
Too young to see
what she saw;
their hidden gifts
waiting to be unveiled
in the invisible future.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location:
Old Schoolhouse (1896) Marion County - Kansas
During the long, warm
days of summer,
you can almost hear
the trees breathing,
their pulse vigorous and strong,
reaching for the light.
Green. Growth. Growing.
Now in November,
after the long shed of leaves,
the stripped trees
seem ready for slumber,
a season of lethargy.
Dark. Cold. Bare.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan
2. Home Road
3. Home
Near the end of my early run
I am greeted by the slanting rays
of the sun through morning fog.
Long limbs reach out overhead
along this quiet country road.
I want to run through
the golden gate
and rejoice in God's glory
on the other side.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
Once again,
I'm driving these country roads,
following the curves,
the backroads of my mind;
hoping to discover
new images that can fill
the pages of my notebook.
I will stop often,
get out of the truck,
and use my camera.
Walking slow, I notice more.
Stopping often, I absorb
the secrets of the land.
Collecting fragments
and intricate details,
I begin to find my poetry.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
You may also like: "Finding Poetry" - December 23, 2019
Photo Locations:
2. Louisville, Colorado
3. Sonoita, Arizona
4. Canon Township - Kent County - Michigan
I love to drive these backroads.
These empty, gravel, backroads,
especially coming back from town
to do too many mundane errands.
The closer I get to home,
the slower I drive;
trying to notice something new
after twenty-five years here.
Time slowing down.
Time irrelevant.
I drive until I arrive.
Gratitude never stops.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan
2. Home Road - Kent County - Michigan
Muted, yet still holding
a subdued vibrancy,
a palette of chrysanthemums
on display at country farm markets.
A cooler, dry atmosphere
carries fair-weather cumulus,
pushing them slowly eastward
where they pile up on the horizon.
Ripened acorns zip through leaves
and bounce off my inverted canoe.
A sound that signals
the approach of autumn.
Some fall warblers in muted colors
are in a feeding frenzy
as they move in waves
slowly southward.
These autumn days are magnificent,
but growing much shorter.
Warm light slants in at a lower angle;
muted, but welcomed.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Frugthaven Farm - Greenville, Michigan
2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
3. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan
4. Naples Preserve - Naples, Florida
