If You Have Any

 

If you're reading this during daylight,

could you please go outside and find

a good, wide view of the sky?

Then, could you make a brief observation

of the position and composition

of the clouds in your sky?

If you have any.

You know, just the basic three types:

cirrus, stratus, cumulus.

And one last request,

if you don't mind,

if you have any 

time:

Could you please tell me the speed

and the direction they are drifting,

so I can watch for their arrival?

You may be watching your sky right now,

or you may still be reading.

Either way, 

thank you for your participation.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. North Fort Myers, Florida

2. Tubac, Arizona

3. Grand Mesa, Colorado

4. St. Patrick Church - Parnell, Michigan

Winter Angels

 

In this forgotten cropfield

that once grew soybeans,

it's a day in late winter,

still below freezing,

with a trace of snow remaining.

Sandhill Cranes toss stems and leaves.

With the slightest wing thrust

they rise effortlessly

eight feet up, then settle down

like winter angels.

They dance and call

and flare their wings

and toss and dance

and wait for spring.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Breaking the Silence

 

It seemed like the stars

appeared closer that night.

The quiet calm of the atmosphere

was overwhelming.

Cold air entered my lungs.

Snow crystals sparkled in snowy fields.

Then, from the tall pines,

a Great Horned Owl broke the silence.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Estero, Florida

Entering the Painting: "The Vineyards at Cagnes"

 

Leaning against an olive tree,

the lady sits contentedly

in her own private world.

Red blouse, blue skirt,

the wide brim of her hat

shielding the sun.

Apparently reading a book,

entering the story,

absorbing the narrative

in her delicate head.

Invisible to the reading lady,

I enter the painting.

Leaning on the other olive tree,

sitting in the summer shade,

wearing my ordinary clothes.

I observe the landscape,

and begin to write about

my pastoral impressions

and her captivating presence.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

"The Vinyard at Cagnes" ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1908

Photo Location: Vero Beach Museum of Art - Vero Beach, Florida

facial features

 

you think I'm pretty?

you like my facial features?

Red-naped Sapsucker

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Madera Canyon, Arizona

Steady

 

Only when the moon is full

can you observe all of its bruises

through binoculars held steady

against the trunk of a tree.

Only when you stop

and engage the stranger on the street,

can  you learn of the troubles, struggles,

and adversities that have scarred him.

A life history that would remain unknown

from the safe distance of your car,

while driving the steady course of your life

along its predictable orbit.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Trophy

 

This Cottonwood tree,

its stout branches

feathered with frost,

stands statuesque

in serene solitude,

and solemn silence;

a silver trophy

earned and given 

for your endurance

and perseverance

into late winter.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

2. St.Patrick Church - Parnell, Michigan

The Open Ocean

 

No billboards, no power poles,

no high-rise buildings,

no traffic congestion,

no street lights.

Only the broad horizon,

the wide open ocean

revealing the curvature of the earth

where the sea meets the sky.

I've come here

to refresh my spirit,

to watch waves

wash the sandy shore.

To listen to the power

of the Atlantic.

To imagine the ocean open

from here to Africa.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Vero Beach, Florida

Aspen Eyes

 

Along these parallel lines

of hieroglyphics

that curve around

the aspen trunk,

a pair of eyes 

calling you close.

Happy to see you stop

and study

the lines of letters;

searching for 

possible words

in this volume of trees.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

West Elk Wilderness - Colorado

Voice of the Wind

 

The voice of the wind

intensified.

Then the front of the storm,

the brunt of the storm,

shouted at the earth,

and things growing from it.

Trees were wagging wildly

and flailing their branches;

trying to absorb the punishment,

waiting to return, 

with resilience,

to their quiet, patient lives.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

2. Louisville, Colorado

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