The tops of these tall oaks
sway with surprising flexibility,
while the bases of the trunks
remain motionless.
Up there in the canopy,
the song in the wind
plays magical music
that words could never translate.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
2. Grattan township - Kent County - Michigan
Long, narrow islands
grow slowly over the years,
by inches, by a few feet
in the Platte River.
Ever-changing sandbars
are made and remade,
formed and transformed.
by a slow, shallow current,
meandering, weaving
between massive cottonwoods
that fortify the river banks.
Some of the cottonwoods were
born when horses pulled wagons
east to west through
the long state of Nebraska
along the curves of the Platte,
carrying all of its past
in the slow current
into the future.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. 2. & 3. North Platte, Nebraska
I long to hear the song
of the shiny ocean
gliding onto shallow shores,
polishing the slopes of sand
with a brief shimmering light;
again, again, and again.
I want to return
to the seashore
to watch the Willets
dancing in and out,
leaving tiny tracks
along the reach of the surf.
To witness Brown Pelicans
flying in formation
skimming close to the surface, then
plunging their massive bodies
headlong into the water;
a scoop of cold fish soup.
After these many winters
hiking dry desert washes,
I thirst for the sensation
of waves washing my feet,
and the wide horizon curving away,
carrying shiny ocean dreams.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Beverly Beach State Park - Oregon
2. La Jolla, California
3. Barefoot Beach - Florida
4. Barefoot Beach - Naples, Florida
5. Sanibel Island - Florida
"I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent."
~ Anne LaMott p.99 Bird by Bird © 1994
I truly believe
that you should be able
to find awe in every
day of your life.
That God is intrinsic
in all of his creation.
That the paying of your attention
results in a tremendous
return on investment.
So, reduce your screen time,
get outdoors, be present.
Try to remember
each sight, sound
and sensation.
Now,
take some time
to write.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
You may also enjoy "Inheritance" - March 10, 2022
Photo Locations:
2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
3. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan
4. Coronado Island - San Diego, California
5. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan
I know that prayers
are obviously invisible,
but I thought I saw some
rising and riding the wind;
to their anticipated location,
their appointed destination;
on the delicate wings
of a Swallowtail Butterfly,
on the powerful wings
of a Bald Eagle,
on the net-veined wings
of a dragonfly,
on the fine, silky fibers
transporting milkweed seeds,
on the white, billowed cumulus
towering into the atmosphere.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
You may also enjoy: "Prayer Beads" from June 15, 2023
There are 44 references to Prayer in the TOPICS section of WWFN.
Photo Locations:
1. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
2. Eagle Lakes Park - Naples, Florida
3. & 4. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
5. North Fort Myers, Florida
The weightlessness of dreams.
The way clouds drift through the sky.
The tangle of thoughts in the mind.
The way driftwood accumulates on the shore.
The gravity of memories.
The way rivers return to the ocean.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Tuolumne Meadows - Yosemite National Park - California
2. Missouri River - Williston, North Dakota
3. La Jolla, California
Mountain Bluebirds are
perched along the fence line,
unnoticed and unseen
by drivers hurrying
to their next destination.
I stop to capture their
smooth blue portraits.
Happy to hear them
twitter and chatter,
unable to interpret
their chitter and jabber.
Comforted by walking
in their meadow
between the mountains.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
As she spins on the stage,
her pink silk skirt
flares in a circle of dreams.
Moving with feminine grace,
and engaging, magnetic charm,
spinning in brilliant light.
Turning in pirouette,
her captivating face
fixed on the future.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. 2. 3. Hollyhocks - Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
