At the front edge of dawn,
on this morning in May,
a chorus of birdsong
reaches my grateful ears;
becomes an aria
to start my day.
© 2026 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Prothonotary Warbler - Kalamazoo River - Allegan State Game Area - Michigan
2. Bobolink - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
You're out here with purpose.
Walking through your own woods,
to witness these spring-loving birds
returning to their home territories,
or just passing through
on their northern migration.
It's just another reason
you love the month of May.
To listen to the songbirds
and the warblers
singing to each other,
singing to the sky.
© 2026 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Scarlet Tanager - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
2. Bay-breasted Warbler - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan.
3. Black and White Warbler - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan.
From a distance,
they are splendid in the spring.
These lovely understory trees
featuring delicate blossoms
with pure white sepals.
And close-up, they offer
an elaborate view
of their intricacies.
Protruding from the borders
of hardwoods in May,
in Michigan;
Flowering
Dogwoods
flowering.
© 2026 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations: Kent County - Michigan
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
Wild Blue Phlox
appear here
in late May abundance.
Silent in their growing
in the sun-dappled shade
at the edge of the woods.
Purple, lavender, a few whites.
Common and familiar,
but when hand-picked
with your favorite pruners,
selected and collected,
and arranged in
an antique vase,
their beauty warms the room
and our familiar hearts.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations: Home Woods & Home.
From the rich, dark soil,
green hands emerge
and stretch toward the sun.
They send a single spike
straight up to support
a swelling flower.
Morning dew clings to soft petals,
then they slowly open
with feminine grace.
And now, in early May,
spring brings this welcome
cup of contentment.
© 2025 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
A poet always hopes
that the poem's words
will shine upon the page.
Be illuminated
by the early light
of a June morning.
Create a sense of rhythm,
like the wavelets
licking the sandy shore.
Or the whooshing, rushing music
of a mountain stream
dancing with boulders.
Perhaps a gentle breeze
lifting and lilting
tiers of new maple leaves.
To wed experience with imagination.
Imagery with ingenuity.
Vision with enhanced awareness.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Home Sky - Cannonsburg, Michigan
2. Lake Michigan - Grand Haven State Park - Michigan
3. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado
Specifications
for a fine day in May:
More than just
a handful of time available;
but a bucket, a bushel, a basket
waiting to be filled.
Some woodland wildflowers;
like Mayapple, Trillium, and
a velvet-soft Hepatica all qualify.
Migrating warblers are essential;
Chestnut-sided, Magnolia,
Yellow and Bay-breasted.
A warm breeze is necessary,
borne in the southwest, carrying
a promise of the mid-seventies.
The most obvious requirement
is to be outside, under the broad
blue sky arranged with small cumulus.
And hopefully, a proviso of words,
waiting with eager anticipation,
and qualified to enter these lines.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
2. Magnolia Warbler - Home Spruce - Cannonsburg, Michigan
3. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan
Now that May has arrived,
some trees are changing
into their chartreuse gowns.
Dressing up once again
for a season of glamor,
growth and splendor.
Drinking water and
minerals from the earth,
taking in carbon dioxide
from the air,
and absorbing solar
energy from the sun.
A miraculous process
performed before your eyes
in absolute silence.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Canon Township - Kent County - Michigan
On this early May morning,
birds are waking the sky.
The sweet syllables of their songs
resonate through the canopy of leaves.
A choir of praise performing
while hidden in the temple of trees.
A chorus of soft secrets
rising with the sun.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Goodwillie Environmental School - Ada, Michigan
2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
3. Cannonsburg State Game Area - Cannonsburg, Michigan
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
After a full day of spring Birding,
of looking through binoculars,
and reading field guides,
birds fly through the
watercolor of my dreams.
I awake the next morning,
eager with anticipation,
to see the next new migrants,
perhaps a "life-lister" species.
Mid-May in Michigan.
© 2021 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Scarlet Tanager ~ Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
2. Northern Oriole ~ Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan
3. Prothonotary Warbler ~ Allegan State Game Area - Allegn, Michigan
In the understory,
long-reaching twigs
are still dripping at dawn
after a six-hour rain.
Stout trunks of Red Oak
with fissured bark
wear splotches of lichen,
still moist with pale greens.
Migrating wood warblers
flit about the canopy;
resume their feeding frenzy
on insects I cannot see.
Flowering Dogwoods'
cross-shaped blossoms
spread pure white
over a bluing sky.
After April's cool reception,
May has arrived offering pleasures.
She is desirable.
I embrace her.
© 2021 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
3. Cape May Warbler - Cannonsburg State Game Area - Kent County - Michigan
4. Grand Rapids Township - Kent County - Michigan
High in the canopy
of our large Red Oaks,
eager buds are swelling
against the afternoon sky.
It's still easy to catch
the movement of birds
while the branches remain naked;
before the buds burst into leaves.
Today loyal chickadees and nuthatches
move with purpose, having
survived another winter
in their known territory.
Soon a wall of spring greens
will obscure birds' movements, and
we will squint and search with binoculars,
searching for our favorites.
Hoping to find the migrating warblers;
that dependable display in May,
flitting fast in a feeding frenzy,
before flying farther north to nest.
© 2021 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. - 5. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan
6. Prothonotary Warbler - Yankee Springs Recreation Area / Gun Lake State Park
