Taking Time

 

I wander the woods with wonder.

Taking my time, taking my poetry notebook.

Allowing my senses their freedom

to absorb, to accept this invitation.

I scrape dead leaves into a cushion,

and sit against a solid trunk of White Oak;

feeling the furrows and ridges of the bark

press into the muscles of my back.

Taking time to quiet my mind,

I let worldly thoughts settle into the soil.

Occupying this profound stillness,

I'm prepared for inspiration's embrace.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

I Sit

I sit.
Beneath this arch of sky,
under the sublime influence
of Lake Michigan;
scanning the far horizon,
trying to perceive the slight 
curvature of the earth
at the edge of the sky. 

I sit.
Sheltered in the green shade
of an enormous White Oak,
while the drowsy summer sun
warms the surrounding fields
abundant with the soft faces
of Queen Anne's Lace.

I sit.
On the bouldered bank
of the Arkansas River,
bordered with Ponderosa Pines;
exhilarated by the rush of current,
mesmerized by the sound of rapids,
and time,
racing 
past.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Michigan

2. Grand Haven State Park - Michigan

3. Dixon, Illinois

4. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

5. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

Bones of Winter

These bare branches
are the bones of winter;
persistent, persevering,
collecting snow and ice,
enduring months of cold.

Holding secrets
within their twigs.

Waiting for the 
silent light of spring
to pull liquid life
up the xylem,
to burst the buds
now lying dormant,
enclosed by winter.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. White Oak ~ Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. & 3. American Beech ~ Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Honey Creek - Seidman Park - Ada, Michigan

Naked Light

Sugar Maples slowly shed their leaves;
gold coins falling through their branches,
their richness now collected on the ground. 

Now the naked light of November
displays the elegant tree skeletons
of White Oaks.

Exposes gray, globular hornets' nests
newly visible, hanging high,

and disheveled squirrel nests in Red Oaks;
compact clusters of leaves and twigs
tucked in the trees' tops.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. 4. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Grace Notes

This morning breeze
whispers in the woods,
then the wind 
becomes more ambitious
as a stratus blanket 
grows in the northwest,
signaling a summer shower
coming soon. 

Among the far-reaching branches
of Sugar Maples and White Oaks,
where sunlight touches their tips,
Redstarts are flitting
orange and black,
orange and black,
along the wall of green.

Just now a Veery.
A Veery!
Calling from within
the density of green.

I wait.
I listen.
He appears.

His sweet song
showers me
with grace notes.
I feel immersed
in a pool of serenity.

I want to take
all of this
with me,
and give it 
to you.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Listen to the call of the Veery from Cornell Labs: 

Veery Call


Photo Locations: Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan 

Photo Haiku - Tree Series

 

 

 

                                                                            

yellow catkins arch

slender flexibility
Weeping Willow trees

 warm morning sunshine

 sturdy White Oak growing old 

 limbs spread broad and strong

 

 

 

 

                                                                        

narrow, spire-like crown

grows on Lake Michigan coast

Lombardy Poplar

 

 

           

Redbud defines Spring

understory sprays of pink

May in Michigan

 

 

 

 

                                                                                

dense stand of Aspen

textured trunks of black and white

reaching for the sun

 

 

 

 

prime Ponderosas

by the Bitterroot Mountains

southwest Montana

 

 

 

 

        

hiking the Southwest

near Payson, Arizona

Mary loves this pine

 

Which is your favorite Haiku?

Which is your favorite Tree?

Which is your favorite Photo?

 

Also view: "Photo Haiku - Tree Series 2"