Presence

 

A mysterious,

but enlightening presence

permeates this place.

Your senses

are attentive,

eager for contact.

Even the birds,

though busy

with their feeding,

seem aware

of your appearance

and accept your silence.

Then a chickadee,

buoyant with enthusiasm,

shares its joyful song:

"Chickadee, chickadee-dee-dee."

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Cascade Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Kent County - Michigan

Changes

Blue Jays, quiet and secretive

most of the summer,

have begun to shriek and jeer

from high hidden perches.

Black-capped Chickadees

gather in groups again

to chatter and jabber:

"fee-bee," and "fee-bee-bee".

Eastern Chipmunks jump

and scatter quickly

off the wooded trail

you are hiking.

Sandhill Cranes have raised

their young and take them up

for practice flights, preparing

for late fall migration.

And out West, in the elevations,

the Rocky Mountains are already aflame

with Aspens climbing and

spreading gold up the slopes.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Kent County - Michigan

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

4. McCarthy Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

5. Grand Mesa National Forest - Colorado

White Curtain

 

Winter's white curtain

brightens the windows,

softens the rolling hills,

quiets the woods and fields...

except for the

cheerful chickadee,

thrilled to be alive today,

and finding ways to 

survive and thrive;

spreading energy and vitality

with its bubbly, buoyant song:

"Chick-a-dee,

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee."

Opening the curtain.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Kent County - Michigan

2. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Ada, Michigan 

4. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. & 5. Cascade Township - Kent County - Michigan

Manipulation

Early summer wind
pushes at the edge
of these green woods,
where long branches
reach to receive it.

New maple leaves
inverted, and uplifted,
to expose their undersides.

Riding the wind,
and flexible enough
to accept manipulation.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Video Location: Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Photo Location: Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Kent County - Michigan

Large Hope

This small chickadee
sings with a large hope.

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee-ing
into the January cold.

Play: Cornell Labs - Black-capped Chickadee


Photo Locations:

1. Cascade Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Ada, Michigan

Book of Songs

The pulse of the earth
is quickening.

Old trees creating
new leaves each spring.

Returning warblers
open their book of songs.

Every April our inheritance
is renewed.

Time again to celebrate
victory over winter.












Old trees with new creation
in their branches.

Holding birds that sing
with triumph in their songs.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Silver Maple - Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Ada, Michigan

2. Blue-winged Warbler - Goodwillie Environmental School - Ada, Michigan 

3. Tamarack - Ada Township Park - Ada, Michigan

4. Indigo Bunting - Cannonsburg State Game Area (Egypt Valley) - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Living Tapestry

The  embroidery of spring has begun.

These woods, exuberant
and swelling with vigorous life, 
cannot be stopped; are again 
painting with a palette of pastels.

Seen only during this 
turning of the season; 
seen only when you walk
through the open the door.

Why so extravagant, so intricate?
More than just order and function,
it also includes the grace of beauty.

Go now!
Witness this living tapestry.

The show has already begun;
traced by the Creator's hand,
new for you each day.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 6. Home Woods
3. Ada Township Park - Ada, Michigan
4. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Ada, Michigan
5. Ada Township