Let's Paint

 

Let's paint these walls

the color of Wyoming sage

thriving on the Antelope Flats

of Grand Teton National Park.

Let's carpet these floors

the color of fresh green moss

velveting rounded rocks

in this Michigan trout stream.

Let's paint these ceilings

the color of pure blue skies

rising above the Colorado

Rocky Mountains.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

3. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Weather on the Moon

 

If there is no weather on the moon,

I would never want to live there.

I prefer the atmosphere here,

since my birth on the earth.

Take me climbing in the Rocky Mountains,

or walking the Lake Michigan shores.

I will trek the Arizona deserts,

or stroll the Atlantic Ocean beaches.

I can see the moon from any place here,

so why would I want to go there?

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. West Elk Wilderness - Colorado

2. Florence, Arizona

3. Sunset Beach, North Carolina

4. Fort Myers, Florida

 

Without a Map

 

I think I'll drive West

without a map.

After rolling over the prairies,

I'll hit the Rocky Mountains.

Then, maybe I'll take a right, and

head for the Snowy Mountains in Wyoming.

After that, perhaps a left

to search for a quiet cove

in the Grand Tetons.

Maybe I'll camp for a few days,

maybe I'll camp for a week.

Photograph the moose browsing

along the Snake River.

Watch the Pronghorn prancing

through the sagebrush,

kicking up dust with their hooves.

Write a few lines

in my poetry notebook.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

1. Tie Siding, Wyoming

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

3. & 4. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

5. Home Deck - Cannonsburg, 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

Perceptive

I am always grateful

for the power of perception.

Deeper than simple observation,

perception contains the capacity

for emotion and passion.

While working in my spring garden,

a Song Sparrow singing sweetly

can make me suddenly attentive

to its joyful, solo performance,

carry music into my soul.

While fishing on McCarthy Lake,

I become conscious of

ballooning cumulus

reflecting on calm water,

surging into summer-blue skies.

While hiking in the Rocky Mountains,

my awareness is elevated

by golden waves of aspens

climbing slopes and ridges.

While running these country roads,

the autumn wind flings falling leaves

onto my head and torso,

producing a sensory experience.

While exploring the shoreline

of Pickerel Lake in early winter,

I witness the conversion

of water into ice.

I have become more receptive,

mindful and present;

influenced by the renewal and recurrence

of creation in all seasons.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

3. Ouray, Colorado

4. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

5. Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

Meeting Dusk

Never late
for its meeting
with dusk;
darkness arrives,
carrying time
on its solid, black back.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Front Range - Colorado Rockies - Loveland, Colorado

Hope

Photo Location:

Rocky Mountain National Park ~ Colorado 

Short Summer

Within this short, summer season,
withstanding relentless winds,
alpine wildflowers thrive
in these rugged 
Rocky Mountains.

High above the treeline,
under intense sunshine,
clinging to thin tundra soil,
they will survive
in their short,
sweet 
time. 

© 2015 Richard Havenga

♪♪ We will get by, ... we will get by, we will survive...♪♪ 

"Touch of Gray" ~ Grateful Dead

Photo Locations:

1, 2, 3. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

4. Medicine Bow National Forest - Wyoming

My Daughter Sarah!

From the Atlantic...

to the Pacific...

From the Rocky Mountains of Colorado,

to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah,

to the Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona,

Sarah shines her dazzling light into the lives of everyone she meets.





Here are the two people that give meaning to my life, give love to my life:

Mary Havenga and Sarah Havenga

Now look at this fabulous birthday card Sarah sent her "Daddy" this week.

Click here > "When Clouds Talk to Mountains"

Read the warm words of love she wrote to me:

Click on photos to enlarge.

I have four bookshelves full of these handmade, personalized birthday and Father's Day cards. Here are a few:

Here stands the luckiest father on the planet.

Sarah: 

I am blessed to be your father. You know how much I love you. 

Love, 

  

          Dad