Devoted

 

In the cold spring air,

on the cool April ground,

green blades of  young grasses

spear through the dead mat of tans.

Here in a small depression,

a hidden patch of earth

is warmed by the breast

of a nesting Woodcock.

Four elegant eggs

splotched with earthy colors.

Vulnerable to the elements.

Dependent on her devoted presence.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

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

Mares' Tails

 

Look at them racing.

Their long white tails

trailing across

the broad blue sky.

These "Mares' Tails"

galloping to the east.

The finish line

just out of sight,

beyond the horizon,

into the troposphere.

Equestrian sweepstakes.

Competition among clouds.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Spears

 

It's April again,

and in bland fields,

matted down by winter snows,

new grasses emerge.

Spears of jubilant green

piercing the carpet of tan,

stretching toward the yellow sun.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Yellowing

 

April is leaning forward,

greeting the arrival of spring

with patient exuberance.

Yellowing these warmer days

with happy thickets of Forsythia,

and  Daffodils trumpeting with joy.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Home Road - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Water into Water

 

Rain is progressing

up the Grand River valley;

softening the rich soil,

placing a sheen on the 

Silver Maple leaves,

dimpling the river's surface.

I watch the river

accept the rain;

water into water,

meandering 

through the landscape

on its silent course.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Grand River - Plainfield Township - Kent County - Michigan

Finishing

 

I'm waiting expectantly

for this morning's sunrise.

Hoping to be filled

with luminous light,

and a few creative words

inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Starting with receptivity.

Finishing with gratitude.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Filling

Our loyal cardinals

brought vibrant color

to a gray and white winter.

And on summer evenings,

they pierce the silence

with sharp, bold whistles.

Filling the air with song.

Filling my ears with music.

Filling my eyes with gratitude.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. & 3. Home Woods

 

Driving

 In Memory of

 Aaron Havenga   April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994

Driving late at night,

still a long way

from our destination.

Very few cars

on this remote highway.

I'm playing

some of his favorite music

from the Grateful Dead

inside the warm cab of my pickup,

while driving through

the cool, Colorado rain. 

Driving into the future,

I feel like these headlights,

and even though I strive,

I cannot see everything

that may be out there.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Steamboat Springs, Colorado

2. Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area - Utah

Atmosphere

 

Here, at the ocean's edge,

observing the horizon's fine line,

admiring distant clouds growing

in a blue, fathomless sky,

my meager, tenuous words evaporate

into the absorbing atmosphere.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Delnor Wiggins Pass State Park - North Naples, Florida

Ten Years from Today

 

If I live to be eighty-six,

or possibly beyond,

I often visualize

our only daughter Sarah,

when she comes to visit,

(who is a good writer),

offering to read to me

the poems I've written

in these later years of my life.

I'll listen to her soothing voice,

her natural intellect,

her excellent annunciation,

her perfect pronunciation,

and her musical mind

reading my words back to me.

I'll ask, "Did I write that?"

"Yes Daddy, when you were seventy-six."

Then she'll show me my photographs

that helped to illustrate my words.

Then she will say:

"This is good stuff Daddy.

You could still write poetry today."

And she'll hand me a pen and paper.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Ludington State Park - Michigan

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Sanibel

 

These innumerable small shells

have washed upon the beach.

I select one in a million,

take it home in my pocket.

Display it on the library shelf

in my small collection.

A fine assortment of jewels

harvested from Sanibel Island.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Sanibel Island, Florida

Columbia

 

The wide Columbia;

deep and cold,

big and bold,

pushes relentlessly

down the gorge.

Slowed by several dams,

it seeks the ocean,

and always achieves its goal.

How many fish live

in a mile of water?

How many miles of water

patiently pursue the Pacific?

How many megawatts of electricity 

can the Columbia River produce?

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Hood River, Oregon

2. Biggs Junction, Oregon

Turning Pages

 

An ambitious wind

rises with the sun,

pushes its way through the day.

Twists tiers of leaves

to expose their undersides,

dances with towering tree tops.

Carries cumulus clouds

from west to east

over your sky view.

Tickles your skin.

Furrows your hair.

Freshens your face.

Turns your book's pages

before they've been

read. 

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Joliet, Illinois

3. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Home Deck - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Seafoam

 

Where the shoulder of the dunes

meets the breast of the beach,

a necklace of Sanderlings

performs a jittery, skittery ballet

along the white blouse of seafoam.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Sanibel Island, Florida

Quiet Words

 

Usually, the words

emerge from the quiet.

In the silence of dawn

before the first birds awake.

On the smooth table of water

before the minnow jumps.

During the slow approach of dusk

before the tree crickets chirp.

At the golden glow of moonrise

when wavelets waver the light.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Crooked Lake - Kent County - Michigan

Bosque del Apache

 

Thousands of Sandhill Cranes call 

and fall from the blue New Mexico sky.

With their wings held in stutter-flight,

coasting, braking, decelerating,

the cranes fall to earth, descend

into a great cacophony of sound.

A commotion of feathers

and feet on the ground.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - New Mexico

contours

inside the contours

of his creation on earth

God hides while we seek

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Point Reyes National Seashore - (Tomales Point) - California

Praying

 

When I pray,

I try to quiet my mind

and concentrate

on God's presence.

Then, humbling myself

with deep respect,

I give sincere thanks

for His incredible creation,

and wait patiently

for the Holy Spirit

to stir my soul

with inspiration,

to accept and embrace 

who I am called to be,

seeking guided navigation

from obscurity into purpose,

to be ready

to accept His message

and show gratitude

through my writing.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1.Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

2. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Home Road - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Song of Our Lives

 

The river of time flows endlessly,

carries the song of our lives in our place.

Will you sing of the blessings

you've been granted through grace?

Will the list be so long

that your complaining is replaced

with gratitude for life, and 

precious time in your space?

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Snake River - Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Columbia River - Hood River, Oregon

3. & 4. Grand River - Kent County - Michigan

Voice of the Desert

 

The air and the light

create serenity.

A quiet calm permeates

the atmosphere.

The voice of the desert

speaks with a dry whisper.

I listen attentively,

ready for illumination.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Florence, Arizona

2. Picacho Peak State Park - Arizona