summer dunes

 

shadows of grasses

dancing on warm summer dunes

choreography

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Whitefish Point - Upper Peninsula - Michigan

How to Read Words

 

You are reading these words

as I have written them:

Transparent as Lake Superior's water.

Clear as the night sky in the desert.

Soft as the petals of Arizona's poppies.

Colorful as October woods in Michigan.

Generous as the ocean pushing onto the shore.

Fresh as spring daffodils in your garden.

Dependable as the seasons turning.

Striving as acorns aspire to become oaks.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Whitefish Point Bird Observatory - Upper Peninsula- Michigan

2. La Jolla, California

3. Wabasis Lake Park & Campground - Kent County - Michigan

Small Treasures

 

How many years did it take

for these stones to slowly migrate

from the depths of Lake Superior?

How many years have they

been blasted by wind-driven sand

along this brutal coast?

To be shaped flat and smooth

into ovals and circles

in a spectrum of colors?

But it only takes a few  minutes

to lift a few out of packed sand

with grateful fingers;

small treasures of granite

sculpted by water, wind, 

sand, and time.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Whitefish Point Light Station - Lake Superior - Michigan

jeweled

washed by Great Lakes waves

these precious, persistent stones

jeweled by the sun

© 2017 Richard Havenga 

Photo Location: 

Whitefish Point Bird Observatory - Paradise, Michigan 

Fragments of Poetry 19

"... the grass.

it anchors sand in place,
then names itself,
signing landscape

by bending in a gentle curve,
swaying half-circles, penning
a transitory letter..." 


from the poem: "Meditation On Creation" by Anne-Marie Oomen 
in:  Seasons of the Sleeping Bear  p.22



Photo Location: Whitefish Point Bird Observatory - Lake Superior - Paradise, Michigan 


You may also enjoy previous "Fragments"...

Fragments of Poetry 16 - September 29, 2016

Fragments of Poetry 15 - February 8, 2016