Wild Blue Phlox
appear here
in late May abundance.
Silent in their growing
in the sun-dappled shade
at the edge of the woods.
Purple, lavender, a few whites.
Common and familiar,
but when hand-picked
with your favorite pruners,
selected and collected,
and arranged in
an antique vase,
their beauty warms the room
and our familiar hearts.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations: Home Woods & Home.
Behold.
The mystery;
the potential miracle
of unhatched eggs.
Placed in a soft cup
of dried grasses,
into a woven
basket of hope.
Elegant eggs
dappled and splotched
with earthy colors.
Being incubated,
nurtured for the
invisible future.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations: Home Gardens - Cannonsburg, Michigan
When Mary retired in 2008,
she didn't slow down.
She still loves to go Birding
every spring.
Here, she is hiking Angel's Landing
in Zion National Park.
She plays tennis in Michigan,
Arizona and Florida.
Enjoys a spectacular view,
in sometimes risky locations!
Enjoys a stroll along Lake Michigan,
or the Atlantic Ocean.
Knows how to relax along a river,
and read a good book outdoors.
Knows her mind, and does not
straddle the fence.
Knows how to have fun.
Is a very classy lady.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
I hurl these words up
into the prevailing wind
to see if they can fly.
They are carried away
across the fresh green lawn
to the margin of the woods,
then drift between the blossoms
of a Flowering Dogwood; where
some words settle on the petals.
The remainder fall to earth,
muffled on a carpet of moss,
gratified by this brief flight.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations: Kent County - Michigan
From the rich, dark soil,
green hands emerge
and stretch toward the sun.
They send a single spike
straight up to support
a swelling flower.
Morning dew clings to soft petals,
then they slowly open
with feminine grace.
And now, in early May,
spring brings this welcome
cup of contentment.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
In Memory of Lillian Havenga (1922 ~ 2021)
He knew
from long experience
with the land,
where the best blooms
of Redbuds were growing.
He invited his mother,
in her mid-nineties,
for a ride in the country.
A ride she wouldn't remember
the next day, or next week.
But along those rural roads,
magenta-pink blossoms
lit up the gray hillside
sloping to the river's edge.
And she released
a barely perceptable sigh:
"Oh My!"
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 4. Thornapple River - Ruehs Park - Alaska - Kent County - Michigan
2. & 3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
After months of patience,
buried in the frozen soil,
these bulbous globes
send their shoots up,
break the ground,
grow toward the sun.
Tight green buds
open into soft cups
of delicate petals.
Explode with color,
achieve their days
of fulfillment.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. 2. 3. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
4. Holland Tulip Time Festival - Holland, Michigan
The buds of the
Flowering Dogwood swell
and open like dreams.
All these white flags
signaling not surrender,
but celebration.
Spring is jubilant always
and the flowers
are flowering.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Grand Rapids Township - Kent County - Michigan
2. & 3. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
The song of the Yellow Warbler,
bubbling up from the wetlands,
was carried on the spring breeze,
like pollen from the scrub willows
in which he perched;
while singing sweet notes
with his yellow voice.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Gavin Lake - Kent County - Michigan
2. Wabasis Lake - Kent County - Michigan
