alpaca

 

good morning to you

time to eat some tasty grass

from my green pastures

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grand Traverse County - Michigan

Slow Dance With Green

 

April and May

in Michigan:

a slow dance with green.

First the early wildflowers

emerge from warming soil.

Then the understory

fills with Honeysuckle

and Black Cherry saplings.

Along the edge of the woods,

Redbud and Flowering Dogwood.

Finally, in the canopy,

occupying oaks

produce a profusion

of buds swelling into leaves,

inviting migrating warblers

to lunch in their twigs.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Trout Lilies -  Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Honeysuckle - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Flowering Dogwood - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. Red Oak canopy - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

5. Chestnut-sided Warbler - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Humble Beauty

 

Tender, but tenacious shoots

emerge from the soil.

Arise and expand

into magnificent plants,

reaching for the sun,

yearning for the light.

Flourishing

in humble beauty, like Hepatica,

or flowering with flamboyance 

like Peonies.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

First Place

 

Look closely again,

at the intricate patterns

in the spring-greening trees.

In the following category,

"Pinnately-Veined Leaves",

I award First Place to...

AMERICAN BEECH !

Their narrow, tapered buds swell,

then unfold coppery sheaths,

to reveal tender young leaves.

Pleated green skirts

rise and fall in the breeze,

inviting your touch.

This award is your reward

for being present, and close

to the pulse of spring.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. 4. & 5.  Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

The Sun Has Warmed the Way

 

I spend the early morning hours

pulling poems into creation.

They arrive quietly,

and the poems that cooperate,

I massage into meaning. 

Hoping for spiritual significance

to become visible

between the words.

Like the purity of petals

on the spring-blooming Bloodroot

when the venous leaf

unfolds its grip

because the sun

has warmed the way.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Yellow Braids

 

Yellow braids

of Weeping Willow.

Supple and flexible,

collect soft spring light.

A welcome sight

after a rigid winter.

Tender twigs,

slim and slender.

A sensuous dance

with warm April air.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

 Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Plainfield Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. Thornapple River - Ada Dam, Ada, Michigan

Arranging, Rearranging

 

I always look up

when I hear the geese

approaching, nearer and nearer.

Here they come, arranging

and rearranging themselves

into intentional V's.

I must count them;

can't help myself,

while I listen to the directions

they're calling to each other. 

To glean from the 

newly-harvested cornfield,

or glide down onto McCarthy Lake;

a splashing, clashing, clamor of sound,

then returning to quiet.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

3. Pickerel Lake Park - Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

4. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

Intimate As Tears

 

It's mid-April

in mid-Michigan.

A drizzly mist,

intimate as tears,

is shed by the clouds.

Overcast, with the promise

of a greening spring.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Gavin Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

Visibly Graceful

 

Weeping Willows may be

in love with the invisible

winds of spring.

Watch them dancing together.

Waltzing, flowing, undulating.

A captivating choreography.

Braided yellow hair.

Swinging in the air.

Visibly graceful.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Thornapple River - Ada, Michigan

2. Plainfield Township - Kent County - Michigan

Long Hours

 for Aaron Havenga  (April 2, 1975 ~ November 20, 1994)

The first light to pierce the dawn

reminds me of your radiant smile.

I miss your warm presence

during the long hours of daylight.

Until the long hours of night,

when sleep becomes my friend.

Inside the vague territory of dreams

when the missing you is missing.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Pleasant Peninsulas

 

In Michigan,

we live on one of two

pleasant peninsulas,

surrounded by inland seas.

Superior.

Michigan.

Huron.

Erie.

Plus, we have about 

twelve-thousand

inland lakes.

In the late 20th century,

our license plates boasted:

"Water-Winter Wonderland".

It's true.

We would appreciate

an exploratory visit

from you.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Arcadia, Michigan

2. Grand Haven State Park & Lighthouse ~ Michigan

3. Pickerel Lake Park - Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

4. Wabasis Lake Park & Campground - Kdingent County - Michigan

5. Ludington State Park - Ludington, Michigan

Soft Lips

 

There is no color quite like it.

I'm talking here about the

golden-yellow-orange

of these California Poppies

that flower in dazzling abundance

in Arizona's Sonoran Desert.

When a warm spring

follows a wet winter,

they spread a golden carpet

over this dry land

to enchant the casual observer.

Bring joyous color

for the serious photographer

to capture a close-up view.

The yellow-gold intensifies.

Deeper, vibrant, fully alive.

Create lovely images

in the mind

of this grateful poet

when the desert breeze

kisses the soft lips

of poppy petals.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

Picacho Peak State Park - Arizona

Watching and Waiting

 

I approach this mountain stream

with deep respect and admiration.

Walking upstream,

along the boulder-strewn bank,

accented with spruce

and Ponderosa Pines.

The sound of rushing water

is like a friend coming toward me;

it flows with companionship,

that I currently need more of.

I keep watching and waiting,

until it's time to move on.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Payette River - McCall, Idaho

2.  Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Taprooting

 

This land rolls away

in red soil and rabbitbrush.

Utah Junipers are scattered,

nearly equally-spaced,

over the wave of hills,

taprooting just enough moisture

from deep in the ground

to survive slowly, deliberately.

We admire their tenacity;

surviving for ages.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Dinosaur National Monument - Utah

2. Canyonlands National Park - Utah

Wingtips

 

A sudden whoosh of wings.

A swarm of fluttering feathers.

As a close cluster of blackbirds

flies from a dark tree

into the gray sky.

In this organized chaos,

how do they not touch 

their wingtips?

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

San Pedro River Riparian National Conservation Area 

San Pedro House - Sierra Vista, Arizona

How It Feels

 

Suffering attracts compassion.

Grief invites kindness.

I've been on both sides.

I know how it feels.

To give.

To receive.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Sage Crush

 

My legs brush the sage

hanging over the trail.

I crush the pale green leaves

and rub them between my hands.

Inhale the masculine scent

that blankets these high plains.

Continue along this trail

that rises with the foothills.

The higher mountains beyond,

remain always in view.

While following the path

scented with sage.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. & 2. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

3. San Juan National Forest - Colorado