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
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
you think I'm pretty?
you like my facial features?
Red-naped Sapsucker
© 2025 Richard Havenga
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
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
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
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
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
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
