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

Morning Hours

As the autumn sun is rising,

often crimson or golden,

I'm in my writing chair

in our cozy library,

looking out the window

for new ideas, for a few

words to come together.

These few, precious hours

allow me to observe the way

the American Beech leaves

first begin to shuffle,

or the way the ambitious wind

tears the remaining  leaves

from these broad White Oaks.

Most days, these morning hours

are fruitful and fulfilling,

and I am grateful

for the enrichment

as I press pen to page,

collecting fragments;

finding my poetry.

© 2024 Richaard Havenga

Pleated Skirts

 

Get close enough

to the American Beech

in late April, so that

you can take its pulse,

and examine the

narrow, tapered buds,

sharp as a  pencil point,

and notice them swelling

until they unfold

their coppery sheaths,

to reveal young leaves;

soft, tender, and wearing

green pleated skirts.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

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

Hopeful Voices

  

It's on these early spring days

that we reconnect with the renewable earth,

as cold soil softens and awakens,

that we sip at the drink of hope.

Eager for the buds to swell

on the tips of tapered twigs.

Earnest for the buds to unfurl

their tender young leaves.

The spring warblers will return

to feed among the trees

for hidden insects and larvae,

and to sing their songs of hope.

Repeating songs of past years.

Fulfilling our anticipation and longing,

as they cast their hopeful voices

into the warming spring air.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Red Maple ~ "Mom & Dad's Farm"

2. American Beech ~ Home Woods

3. Cape May Warbler ~ Cannonsburg (Egypt Valley) State Game Area

Space Between Words

 

How could these meager words

ever hope to emulate

a cluster of Sugar Maple leaves

as they waver on long petioles

after a gentle autumn rain?

How could these modest words

ever hope to simulate

a tier of American Beech leaves

when they rise and fall;

like taking a bow

after a ballet performance?

How could these mere words

ever hope to duplicate

the way a mild breeze

whispers through

ten-thousand fine needles

of a large White Pine?

There is nothing

but air and sky

in the spaces

between these words.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 3. Home Woods ~ Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Egypt Valley Loop Hike - Cannonsburg State Game Area - Kent County - Michigan

4. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

5. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Bleached

 

Some bleached leaves

on the beech trees

have clung all winter

to cold, narrow twigs.

It's another cool, overcast day

here in West Michigan.

We are well into April now, and 

those little blond banners are still waving.

I'll wait patiently for these remnant leaves

to release their grip,

and be ready for the conical buds

to swell from copper scales,

then slowly unfurl

into soft, pastel greens,

to unfold their tight pleats

and spread life into the May sunshine.

Photo Locations:

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

photosynthesizing

 

beech leaves grow greener

while photosynthesizing

in the summer sun

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

The Language of Trees

The language of trees
speaks to me through:

Magnificent maples, 
when they produce
the song of the samaras
spinning back to earth.

Flexible willows 
creating curtains of yellow braids
weaving long lines
in the light wind.

Elegant, old oaks
spreading broad branches 
from a solid, sturdy trunk.

Tall, tapering tamaracks
when they display warm,
yellow candle glow
illuminating the wetlands.

 Intricate American Beech
in the spring when their buds
birth tender, pastel leaves.

Persistent palms;
towering to touch the moon,
or catching a patchwork
pattern of sunlight.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Dad's Farm - Kent County, Michigan

2. Blythefield Memory Gardens - Kent County - Michigan

3. Grand Detour, Illinois

4. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

5. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

6. SaddleBrooke, Arizona

7. Estero, Florida

November Color

Fine flat needles 
of Tamarack linger, 
and lighten the swamp.

Cheerful Winterberries
decorate the edges of 
November wetlands.

Sparse, purple clumps
of wild grapes
dangle in tart bunches.

Bright red bundles
of Highbush Cranberry
hold early snow. 

The powder-blue fruits
of Red Cedar emit a
pungent aroma in the uplands.

Copper colored leaves
persist on slender twigs
of American Beech.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. 4.  Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

5. Gavin Lake - Kent County - Michigan

6. Cascade Public Library - Kent County - Michigan

7. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

8. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Path Through the Leaves

I found these old words
fallen from familiar trees 
and saved them here
to be surprised in the future.

Like years of autumn leaves
pressed into the pages
of the silent books
that wait on my library shelves.

A broad Sugar Maple leaf
preserved in soft yellow
somewhere inside
William Stafford's work.

A two-lobed Sassafras leaf,
the left-handed one,
flattened on the Michigan page
of my Rand McNally.

And American Beech, my favorite,
gathered in early November;
veins precisely pinnate,
perfect for bookmarks within:

Mary Oliver, Luci Shaw,
Dan Gerber, and David Lee;
to be discovered years later,
they mark my place in time.

Hoping what I've found
will not be lost,
but saved within
the pages of books.

To recall once again
the seasons of life,
my journey with words,
my path through the leaves.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, 3. Home Library

4. 5. Home Woods

6. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

7. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan

Carrying Hope

Look.

Look at everything
placed along your path,
before your line of sight,
around you, surrounding you.

Escape from your home,
your work, 
your car,
your phone!

Enter the wild woods and fields.
For an hour, leave your touch-screen
and touch green leaves.

Feel the minute hairs on the leaf,
the serrated edge, the slender petiole
connected to the twig of the branch;
branching from the trunk
that broke through the soil --

(50 years before television),
(90 years before internet) --

as a tiny shoot;
carrying hope
through its vessels,
and flowing with faith
for the future.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan

4. Lowell Township - Kent County - Michigan