We walk the waterline together
along this Lake Michigan shore.
Wavelets create artistic patterns
upon the slope of rippled sand.
I'm ankle deep in cool, fresh water
to feel the hard ridges under my feet.
You're on the saturated slope
making temporary tracks.
We're in our mid-seventies,
still walking the waterline together.
Sharing simple gifts of words,
and hands coming together.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. 2. 3. Lake Michigan - Grand Haven State Park - Grand Haven, Michigan
As the evening grows older,
a faint breath of cooler air
stirs the soft layers of leaves.
This slow passage of time
becomes a precious gift
for the attentive observer.
This one, gentle gesture
that motivates the poet
to capture the moment.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
An old pickup truck
clatters down the gravel road
pulling an elongated
dust trail behind its load.
The farmer slows down now
to inspect his crop fields;
corn on the north, soybeans south.
Wondering about future yields.
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Dark green leaves
stretch for the skies,
reach for the sun,
photosynthesize.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Now that you have
escaped the screens and devices,
the crowds and the traffic,
the offensive noise of he world,
you are fully capable
of engaging in
a deep, spiritual activity
of reflective listening.
Mindfully considering
the source of natural sounds.
Respecting the simplicity
of its genesis,
as you listen with reverence
and quiet alertness
to the silence that
precedes and concludes it.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
The slow summer heat
loitered into mid-September,
so I lingered on the deck
until my written words
were obscured
by the deepening dusk,
and contentment
filled my cup.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
erect on their stiff stalks,
catch your outside eye
as they flare in the wind.
They dominate
the early autumn landscape
before aging into
weathered gray flags.
Finally, to rise above
deep winter snows,
erect on stiff stalks.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. 2. & 3. Kent County - Michigan
Long, ribbonlike leaves
of aquatic plants
flex and sway, undulating
with the sweep of current.
I'm wading knee deep
along the wild banks
of the Flat River,
wide and shallow.
Like the hair
of an underwater maiden,
green strands tangle
and tickle my legs.
I touch my palm
flat to the water's surface,
believing I can feel
the pulse of the river.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Location:
Flat River - Lowell, Michigan
Standing firmly
on the sand dunes
above Lake Michigan,
I'm intrigued, again, to view
the barely perceptible
curvature of the earth.
Contemplating the infinite horizon
where water meets the sky
at the edge of time.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Location:
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore ~ Michigan
They're created overnight,
in the calm darkness,
these exquisite orbs of silk.
Concentric circles
strengthened by
radiating strands.
A spectrum of rainbowed streaks
shimmering in the morning sun.
Arachne weaving daylight.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve Estero, Florida
2. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan
