Ghosted

 

This tall cottonwood

rises above the frozen lake.

Frosted by winter fog.

Ghosted by morning light.

Astonishing my sensitivity. 

Dazzling  my grateful eyes.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

December's Silent Night

 

Among the gratuitous

gifts of winter:

A large, rounded Cottonwood

feathered in frost.

Racks and stacks of firewood,

cured to be burned for our warmth.

Dark bones of trees stretch

long arms into cold air.

Ice Bells suspended 

above Bear Creek.

Loyal Northern Cardinals

bringing vibrant color to snowy days.

The dim glow of January sun

trying to melt persistent icicles.

The snow falling through

December's silent night.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

2, 3, 6, & 7. Home Yard & Home Woods

4. & 5. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

Cottonwoods

 

Leaving the hardwood forests

of my native Michigan,

I curl under the curve

of Lake Michigan on the map.

After enduring Chicago traffic,

I drive past the lush and productuve

soybean and corn fields

of northern Illinois and Iowa,

then the land opens up before me

in the near western plains.

The flat, Platte River weaves

its shallow course through Nebraska.

Large, durable Cottonwoods,

toughened by less rainfall,

line the river's banks;

their broad, brittle leaves

clatter in the wind.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. North Platte, Nebraska

cottonwoods

 

a wedge of warm wind

whispers through the cottonwoods

settles to silence

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Broken Bow, Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway ~ Nebraska

Trophy

 

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

Surrender II

 

After more than a century

of enduring and surviving,

while thirsting under sparse rainfall

on these sun-bleached plains;

this ancient Cottonwood

has surrendered to time.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Louisville, Colorado

You may also enjoy "surrender" November 23, 2020

The Platte

 

Long, narrow islands

grow slowly over the years,

by inches, by a few feet

in the Platte River.

Ever-changing sandbars

are made and remade,

formed and transformed.

by a slow, shallow current,

meandering, weaving

between massive cottonwoods

that fortify the river banks.

Some of the cottonwoods were

born when horses pulled wagons

east to west through 

the long state of Nebraska

along the curves of the Platte,

carrying all of its past

in the slow current 

into the future.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. North Platte, Nebraska

bones

 

skeleton of wood

these old bones of Cottonwood

fallen back to earth 

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Louisville, Colorado

Cottonwoods

A cluster of Cottonwoods

gathers along the Platte River

in Nebraska. 

The prairie wind

creates a clatter

in the congregation

of brittle leaves.

I listen carefully.

Their conversation is

about the far horizon;

recalling their shimmering youth,

before roads paved the prairie.

When badgers and buffaloes belonged. 

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Cottonwood

Still glossy
with moisture,
unfurling from
recent birth.

The blade is distinctly veined,
the margin conspicuously toothed.

Cottonwood leaves
flap on flattened petioles,
shiver in the slightest
breath of breeze.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: 

1, 2, & 3.  Pickerel Lake Park ~ Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County, Michigan

4. Luton Park - Kent County - Michigan

returning to earth

once great cottonwood

born one-hundred years ago

returning to earth

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Lafayette, Colorado

During Daylight

Driving through the dark,
passing through these prairies,
I try to perceive the vastness;
imagine what I'm missing
beyond this tunnel of headlights.

During the daylight,
paralleling the Platte River
through Nebraska,
broad, bold cottonwoods
tower above the flat land.

During the daylight,
Meadowlarks 
perch on posts;
cast their liquid songs
into the dome of sky.

During the daylight,
crops of corn
germinate, generate
work and income
for men in tractors.

During the daylight,
rusted blades of
deserted windmills
are fixed in position,
stranded in time.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Hershey, Nebraska

2. Hesperus, Colorado

3. Harmon, Illinois

4.  Hugoton, Kansas

Clatter

broad cottonwood leaves

clatter by the Platte River

stirred by prairie winds

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Platte River - Ogallala, Nebraska 

Cottonwood Composition

listen to this sound;

the breeze composing music

with Cottonwood leaves

©  2015  Richard Havenga

Eastern Cottonwood - Populus deltoides

Photo Location:

Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County, Michigan

one hundred thousand

An early sun
climbs into July,
warming the air
among these trees.

One
hundred
thousand
leaf blades
on this towering
Cottonwood
begin to quiver
in the fresh breath
of morning.



Then the breeze
holds its breath.

The petioles pause;
firm in their flatness,
motionless.

Now the wind returns
to repeat the wavering,
to resume
the green flags fluttering.

The curved teeth
along the margins
biting the wind.

One
hundred
thousand
leaves
dancing
to the sound 
of their own 
music.

©  2014 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Grattan Township, Cascade Township - Kent County,  Michigan  (Michigan) 

Eastern Cottonwood - Populus deltoides

Cottonwood

white seeds in blue sky

Cottonwood fluff  is blowing

like June snow flurries

Cottonwood - Populus deltoides

Photo Location:  Pickerel Lake Park,  Kent County,  Michigan

"Horizontality"

"Horizontality"

 



Early autumn pushing
band of yellow.

Late summer lingering
strip of green.

Ancient drift deposits
platter of boulders.

Wall of spruce climbs
background slope.

Bulge of rock ringed
with dark pines.

Ribbon of river weaves
through meadow's floor.

Terrestrial table spread
with horizontality.

 
(Click on photos to enlarge)



Yellow  =  Narrow-leaf Cottonwood  (Populus  angustifolia)

Green  =  Trembling Aspen  (Populus  tremuloides)



Photo Location:  Rocky Mountain National Park, (RMNP) Colorado (Colorado)