Winterwood

 

This wood, just added to the fireplace,

I cut and split and stacked

two years ago last November

to warm this January night.

And the sound of your voice

above the crackling fire

makes us comfortable with each other

and our fifty-three years together.

I do my part to keep the fire burning hot.

Knowing the dead trees in our woods

will be placed in the fireplace

a few more winters from tonight.

And how these words, also,

have been stacked and cured.

Not knowing when they'd be used

to finish this winter poem.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

ribbon

 

Bear Creek sculpts a path

in deep January snow

dark ribbon through white

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Townsend Park, Kent County - Michigan

Evidence

 

As we advance along

our daily pursuit of life,

our recent past becomes

a long wake behind us.

Hopefully leaving evidence

of the compassionate  service

we've performed for others.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Footprints

 

Jesus left no footprints

on the water he walked upon,

but he left an impression

over two-thousand years deep.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Sanibel Island, Florida

2. Ludington State Park, Michigan

Choreography of Clouds

 

Each day presents a different design.

Distinctive dimensions on the sky stage.

Clouds dance to the silent music

transmitted through the atmosphere.

A sequence of subtle movements;

a fluid, flowing performance.

Each hour a unique composition

within the choreography of clouds.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Mitchell, South Dakota

2. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

3. North Fort Myers, Florida

Atlantic Moonrise

 

The full moon is shrouded

behind a translucent curtain

of marbled stratus.

Rising over the Atlantic.

Shimmering the saltwater.

Enhancing the evening.

The wind.

The waves.

The warmth.

Immeasurable pleasure

at this Florida beach,

brimming with treasure.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

* Photo Location: South Park Beach, Vero Beach, Florida

Small Treasures

 

How many years did it take

for these stones to slowly migrate

from the depths of Lake Superior?

How many years have they

been blasted by wind-driven sand

along this brutal coast?

To be shaped flat and smooth

into ovals and circles

in a spectrum of colors?

But it only takes a few  minutes

to lift a few out of packed sand

with grateful fingers;

small treasures of granite

sculpted by water, wind, 

sand, and time.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Whitefish Point Light Station - Lake Superior - Michigan

Feeling Small Again

 

It's easy to remember

being small

when you're walking

next to the immensity

of the ocean.

Making temporary tracks

on the wet slope of sand.

Watching the water swell,

waves rising with potential.

Then crashing into the shallows.

The pounding sound of power.

Feeling the ocean's force.

Respecting its strength.

Feeling small again.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Released

 

The interior voice keeps rising, 

slowly, like bubbles flowing below

the thin ice of a winter stream.

Ready to emerge and be heard,

or to be read and concurred.

The poet keeps writing,

the words keep rising,

hoping to be released.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

Reward

 

This little boy and little girl,

brother and sister,

observedly well-behaved,

told by their parents 

to stay where they're at.

Enjoying an ice cream reward.

Trying to make them last.

Wanting to slow down time.

While their parents market

their colorful, glossy pottery

in Tubac, Arizona.

© 2025 Richard Havenga