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

Ear Buds

 

I never have,

nor will I ever start,

to use headphones,

ear buds, etcetera,

when I'm running outdoors.

I prefer to hear

the music of nature

along quiet country roads.

Songs from the Indigo Bunting,

Scarlet Tanager, Yellow Warbler,

or a distant Eastern Meadowlark.

A fall flock of Canada Geese.

An ambitious wind in the trees.

The rising rapids in rivers. 

Rigorous waves on Lake Michigan.

All sounds superior,

to my favorite symphonies

by Haydn or Beethoven.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Indigo Bunting - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Scarlet Tanager - Home Woods - Kent County - Michigan

3. Yellow Warbler - Home Woods - Kent County - Michigan

4. Canada Geese - Saul Lake Bog - Kent County - Michigan

5. Grand Haven State Park - Michigan

How to Get There

 

Sometimes, the words

flying around inside my brain,

are like a massing flock of blackbirds;

swooping, looping, dipping, dropping,

landing in the crowns 

of leafless trees.

How do they not collide?

At other times the words

organize themselves;

seem to have a direction

and purpose,

flying in an orderly allignment,

like the neatly arranged chevron

of Canada Geese,

or Sandhill Cranes,

that know where they're going

and how to get there.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. San Pedro River - Sierra Vista, Arizona

4, Home Skies - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Underwings

 

When a small chevron of geese

flies very low overhead,

just clearing the reach of trees,

with the late, lowering sun

golden on their underwings;

it makes my heart dance,

and makes my soul sing.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - San Antonio, New Mexico

2. Home Skies - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Last Light

 

Dark silhouettes of Canada Geese

hurry past, on their way

to the shallow wetlands

of Saul Lake Bog;

gliding in low,

arriving at dusk,

as calm water

catches the day's last light,

and the soft breasts

of settling geese.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve

Birdies While Golfing

 

Walking down the fairway

approaching my well-hit ball,

this challenging game of  golf

has several benefits for all.

At hole number one it's obvious:

you get to be outdoors;

observing dynamic skies

and all this nature can be yours.

I'm hearing Eastern Bluebirds

fly from tree to tree,

watching them snatch small insects

that I can't even see.

Then a Red-tailed Hawk 

sweeps and sails into view,

riding on summer thermals,

another distraction for you.

And down in the wetland,

a group of Canada Geese,

dabbling in shallow water,

paddling and feeding in peace.

And so by the time we begin

our putting at number eighteen,

I've scored a lot more birdies

than my partners from tee to green.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

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

Counting

 

A large number of Canada Geese

were scattered across the dark water

in the middle of McCarthy Lake.

A skin of ice was growing

from the shoreline to the center.

The geese kept calling to each other

with increasing urgency.

Soon, with a great commotion

of  honking and splashing,

a flock of twenty-three lifted off.

Followed, a few minutes later,

by the clamor of seventeen.

Then, counting rapidly, I watched 41

rise up and noisily leave the surface;

webbed feet beating the water,

feathers spread, beating the air.

Their strong wings carried bulky bodies

up and over the leafless trees.

They skillfully formed a broad "V",

and, sure of their intention, and direction,

the calling slowly diminished.

And now, convinced of their purpose,

they turned to the south,

leaving me at the edge

of the ice-fringed lake,

counting the days until spring.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

Reading Outdoors

 

Oh, the many benefits

of reading outdoors:

The sun shining brightly

on the pages of your book.

Tree shadows passing

over the paragraphs.

Perhaps golden leaves

landing in your lap.

A small choir of birds

singing in the background.

Or a clamorous crowd of geese

causing you to look up.

Occasional bursts of wind

turning the pages for you.

Dragonflies landing on the lines,

walking on the words.

Maybe a cool stream

trickling over your toes.

Or the sound of gentle ripples

entering your ears.

All these welcome distractions

affecting your concentration.

Causing you to get paper and pen.

Following the urge to write outdoors.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Fallasburg Park - Lowell, Michigan

2. Tassell Park - Cascade, Michigan

3. Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve - Parnell, Michigan

4. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

5. SaddleBrooke - Arizona

Shadow's Source

 

Whenever a quick,

silent shadow sweeps

over the ground around me,

I immediately look up

toward the sun,

to find the shadow's source.

Was it a Turkey Vulture,

Red-tailed Hawk,

or Sandhill Crane?

A Canada Goose, of course,

would announce its arrival

before it arrived. 

This time a large surprise:

a Bald Eagle carving easy circles

between sun and clouds.

Silent shadows

sweeping the earth,

far below the source.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 3. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

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

5. Eagle Lakes Park - Naples, Florida

The White Fire of Ice

The morning fog is a silk shawl

sliding over this November wetland.

Hanging upon dark silhouettes

of dying willow trunks.

Beneath the willows, ghost-like geese

swim slowly on still water.

Water that will soon transform

into the white fire of ice.

Ice that triggers departure

for this small, local flock.

A flock that will join

a larger formation.

A formation flying

farther south

in the efficient

V-shape.

A shape that has

served their lives

for all time.

They know when it's time.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 3. Grattan Township Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Wetland - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - SanAntonio, New Mexico

 

 

Undisturbed

A soft fabric of fog

lingers over the lake.

A hush hanging

in the atmosphere.

An absence of sound,

until...

A line of Canada Geese

breaks the silence

because they now see me

standing on the dock.

As the fog slowly lifts,

the geese gabble

to each other.

Louder by the minute.

Faster by the minute.

A commotion of sound,

until...

They lift above

the thinning veil of fog,

gather in a loose formation,

and fly into the faint morning breeze,

seeking a larger lake

to swim in the shallows

and feed

undisturbed.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. 4. & 5. McCarthy Lake - Grattan Township -Kent County - Michigan

6. & 7. Pickerel Lake Park - Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

Saul Lake Bog

Fine tracings

of arching grasses

are frosted at dawn.

Thick shrubs of Cranberry

display red and green leaves 

packed tightly along their twigs.

Browned cattail leaves

curve down from their heights,

more brittle than their summer selves.

A White-tailed buck

stands tall in the Tamaracks;

alert and muscular,

displaying a large rack of antlers.

A few hundred Canada Geese

announce their departure;

rise clamorously

off the shallow water,

assemble airborne into formation,

and depart over autumn leaves.

Winterberry and

large rose hips

add red highlights

into the dense shade.

Black-capped Chickadees

balance like acrobats

while picking at seed heads

of dried wildflowers

and cattails.

Morning has broken 

at Saul Lake Bog.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan