The Evening Stage

Evening serenade:

Gray Catbird carrying on
near my left ear,
Yellow-throated Vireo
singing from the right.

Air;
dead calm,
warm and humid.

The woods are filling
with the fresh green
of new leaves
in deep spring.

A Pileated Woodpecker
cackles in flight
from the north woods,
his harsh call traveling
west to east.

Gray Tree Frogs
babble and jabber
while camouflaged 
in the moist woods.

Sandhill Cranes 
yodel from the distant bog;
sounding like they're 
gargling pebbles.


And the light ‒
it's always about
the light ‒

catches the edges 
of soft cumulus
slowly sailing to the northeast

where a Phoebe 
repeats its plaintive call.

A light-green inchworm
climbs its own
swaying strand 
of silver silk.

As dusk approaches,
ready to slide 
over the end of the day,
the season's first 
Wood Thrush
sings sweetly
into the diminishing light,
and the Chorus Frogs
in the wetland
take their turn
to perform
on the evening stage.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Proposal "P"

To produce a package for a time capsule that would portray my place on this planet, I provide these preferences:

* the puffy pouch of a Pink Lady's Slipper

* the pleasure perceived from a rainbow prism

* a Prickly Pear piercing the desert air

* the pounding percussion of a Pileated Woodpecker 

* trillium petals peppered with pollen

*  powerful roots pushing and probing below the Ponderosa Pines

* a pastel painting of pink petals

* the pacing pulse of a Phoebe in April

* the peculiar parts of a Pitcher Plant

* a penstemon propelling scarlet trumpets

* a pensive place beside a peaceful river

* particles of pollen packed in a bee's pouch

* a patch of pretty poppies

* the parallel leaves of a pixelated palm

* cumulus piling along the perimeter of the prairie





* the passion to prepare a persuasive, perceptive poem




* the patience to proclaim praise in a penetrating prayer

©  2014  Richard Havenga

How Quiet ?

How Quiet ?

We sat on the deck
as evening calm
gathered around us
with tea
our books
and each other.

So quiet
we heard
an eggshell
cracking open
from the
Phoebe's  nest below.

This
newborn
bird
emerging
with
spring.