Thursday, December 19, 2024

A Gift to Yourself

 

There is more room to listen

when you choose to go outside.



There's an expansive space to contemplate.

Find your personal place to meditate.



It's easy to calm your own chatter,

to intentionally practice listening.



Ready to receive quiet inspiration.

A gift you can give yourself.

© 2024 Richard Havenga




Photo Locations:

1. Coronado Island - San DiegoCalifornia

2. Estero, Florida

3. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan






Monday, December 16, 2024

Quiet Poet

 

When I was a child,

a boy walking outdoors,

the meanings were faint,

but my eyes were large.


Then, as a young adult,

a man walking outdoors,

with focused awareness

and explicit intentions.


Now, an older man with a gentle spirit,

collecting images, gathering words,

sorting meaning into lines,

pursuing truth and beauty.



Working to fill the page.

Seeking fulfillment.

Giving gratitude. Sharing.

Revealing the heart of a quiet poet.

© 2024 Richard Havenga



Saturday, December 14, 2024

Long Gone

 The wind comes along

and then leaves;

long gone.



If it stayed,

it would be calm.

© 2025 Richard Havenga


Friday, December 13, 2024

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

The Hurried Clouds

 


Cloud shadows

sweep the foothills,

race up the mountains;



where they're lifted

back into the sky



to reunite with

the hurried clouds.

© 2024 Richard Havenga



Photo Locations:

1. Coronado National Memorial - Sierra Vista, Arizona

2. Oro Valley, Arizona

3. Crested ButteColorado


Monday, December 9, 2024

Inspired Souls


Artists seek and discover

epiphanies of beauty

and receptacles of mystery.


Poets follow paths of passion

pursuing relevant words

that translate their imaginations.



Both artists and poets

value the vision

that opens their senses,


and enables them to

capture on canvas

or in lines on a page,


what they seek

from within

their inspired souls.

© 2024 Richard Havenga





 


Thursday, December 5, 2024

Cage of Snow

 


The umbrella of

Queen Anne's Lace,

once vibrant with

light and grace,



now stands stiff

and browned with age,

curled inward

to form a cage.



Stems still tall and erect

holding little tufts of snow,

and within the small cage,

next year's seeds to grow.

© 2024 Richard Havenga



Monday, December 2, 2024

Peace on the Water

 


A profound stillness

rests on the surface

of the lake.



It's as quiet

as these words

that dissolve slowly

as wispy strands of fog,

like spectral spirits

that rise into the morning,

and disappear 

in the atmosphere,

leaving peace

on the water,

and serenity

in my soul.

© 2024 Richard Havenga




Photo Locations:

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

3. Grand River - Kent County - Michigan
















Thursday, November 28, 2024

gone

time moved on and on 

but he never learned her song

and now she is gone

© 2024 Richard Havenga



Photo Location: Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan






Sunday, November 24, 2024

River of Light

 


This winding river

reflects the sky's light,

meanders through the valley,

illuminates my imagination,

inspires a current of  words

that flow with clarity.



With eyes entranced,

I am drawn into 

intimacy with the land.

Enchanted and contented

with this river of light

flowing through this moment.

© 2024 Richard Havenga





Photo Locations:

1. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

2. & 3. Crested Butte, Colorado







Friday, November 22, 2024

Canyonlands

 


Under the shadow

of the passing raven's wings,

lichen green clumps of sage

are scattered over red soil

in the silent solitude

of the Canyonlands.

© 2024 Richard Havenga




Wednesday, November 20, 2024

The Weight of Sorrow

 Aaron Havenga (April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994)



At first,

when it happened,

the weight was so heavy

I could not lift it

off my chest;

the way it pushed

on my heavy heart.



But after thirty years

I've learned how to carry

the weight of sorrow.



Although I've aged,

my strength is greater,

the burden feels lighter,

my faith shines brighter.


Nineteen years of love was not enough,

but we will be together again.


Love, Dad

© 2024 Richard Havenga


Sunday, November 17, 2024

Underwings

 


When a small chevron of geese

flies very low overhead,

just clearing the reach of trees,

with the late, lowering sun

golden on their underwings;

it makes my heart dance,

and makes my soul sing.

© 2024 Richard Havenga





Photo Locations

1. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - San Antonio, New Mexico

2. Home Skies - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Possibilities


While out on a walk, a Red-tailed Hawk

suddenly swooped in without a sound.



His flared tail, a copper fan,

slowed his landing onto the branch.


He shook and shivered

his body feathers into place.


Considered this tree a possible space

to scan the ground for possible prey.


But soon became indignant

that I was watching him watch.


He lifted off effortlessly and flew away,

seemingly disgruntled by my human presence,



and searching for new possibilities.

© 2024 Richard Havenga




Monday, November 11, 2024

Coming True

 


The wind is playing

in the golden trees.



Leaves and their shadows

are meeting on the ground.



Seasons are rushing past.

The years are coming true.



Plans are not promised.

Our lives are transitory.



But I am optimistic,

and abundantly blessed.

© 2024 Richard Havenga


Photo Locations:

1. 4. & 5. Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. & 3. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan


Thursday, November 7, 2024

Morning Hours



As the autumn sun is rising,
often crimson or golden,
I'm in my writing chair
in our cozy library,
looking out the window
for new ideas, for a few
words to come together.


These few, precious hours
allow me to observe the way
the American Beech leaves
first begin to shuffle,
or the way the ambitious wind
tears the remaining  leaves
from these broad White Oaks.


Most days, these morning hours
are fruitful and fulfilling,
and I am grateful
for the enrichment
as I press pen to page,
collecting fragments;
finding my poetry.

© 2024 Richaard Havenga




Monday, November 4, 2024

My Yellow Woods

 

The lower October sun

slants warm rays

onto the golden-leaved ground

in our morning woods.



I can see farther

into the woods

now that half the leaves

have fallen.



Wild Turkeys are

racing then walking

then squawking to each other,

scurrying from my sight.




Now, except for

a White-breasted Nuthatch

making its nasal call,

all is quiet in my yellow woods.

© 2024 Richard Havenga




Thursday, October 31, 2024

Watching Leaves Blow

 

Writing words of poetry

is like watching 

autumn leaves blow

during October's final days.



I try to catch a few

when I'm running

as they fall through the sky.



It's not easy to predict

where they'll fly to,

or where they will land.



Sometimes they hit me

square in the face.

© 2024 Richard Havena






Monday, October 28, 2024

Persevere

 


Like rain falling

onto the lake's surface;

whether soft and gentle,

or hard and harsh;



we absorb

what life brings us

and are grateful for the grace

to carry on, to persevere.

© 2024 Richard Havenga


Thursday, October 24, 2024

Peshawbestown

 

Vines climbed the side of the barn.

Not the broadside, but on the south.



Mostly Virginia Creeper leaves

with a few Wild Grapes entwined.


It was late September

near Peshawbestown. 


And as I took the photo,

I thought about the old windows.


The history behind the frames.

The mystery behind the glass.

© 2024 Richard Havenga





Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Peshawbestown, Michigan