Sweet Peas for My Wife

 

After 55 years,

he was still bringing

wildflowers to his wife.

He would stop along

the side of the road

on the way home.

Always with a 

hand pruner 

in the car.

This time,

in late June,

it was Sweet Peas;

an endearing name

she sometimes

used for him.

She arranged them

in an antique vase

and sweetly said:

"Thank you Sweet Pea!"

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

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

5. Home - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Slow Dance With Green

 

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

Orange Orchestra

 

I'm walking 

in the welcome shade of August 

along this quiet country road.

Dense clusters

of Common Orange Daylilies

flourish in the heat;

one new bloom each day

on each plant stem.

A late summer orchestra

of orange trumpets flaring

at the top of each stalk.

An abundance of ordinary

at the side of the road,

ready for your investigation,

worthy of your appreciation.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

 Home Road - Cannonsburg, Michigan

360 Days

 

We've waited a long

three hundred sixty days

for a brief view

of this lovely Trout Lily;

newly emerged from

the beige leaf litter,

from the sun-warmed soil

of these spring woods.

It would be worth

a kneel-down,

a minute for a meet-up,

to get to know

her delicate curves

rising between mottled leaves,

and the red-pollened anthers

of its short life span. 

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Remembering Seasons

 

We walk

through the seasons of our lives.

The snow, the cold, the blizzards.

The rain, the heat, the thunderstorms.

Wildflowers emerge in the spring woods.

Tree buds swell and unfurl new leaves.

Vibrant autumn colors

flare briefly, then die.

Winter sun slides by low in the sky.

Summer sun climbs high.

We live our lives alive,

try to thrive in each season;

remembering.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

4. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan

5. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Sounds Like Praise

 

As dawn expanded into morning,

I watched this piece of earth

fill with radiant light.

A breeze stirred the leaves,

and colors awakened

in summer wildflowers.

Listening to the quiet start

of this brand new day,

birdsong sounds like praise.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Glacier National Park - Montana

3. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Perfect Grace

 

In the dead center

of the radiating rays

of the Queen Anne's Lace,

a speck of deep purple.

Have you noticed?

Or are you still

trying to overcome

your infatuation

with the perfect grace

of her white face?

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

God's Voice

 

God speaks to me without words:

In the spectacular inflorescence

of dependable, seasonal wildflowers.

The mist blowing off

the crest of ocean waves.

Through the sweet songs of birds

unraveled effortlessly.

The music playing in the rapids

of a rushing mountain stream.

The atmospheric light

dancing with sky, clouds and rain.

Beauty in nature is not essential, 

it's God's voice within gifts of creation.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Sanibel Island - Florida

3. Cannonsburg State Game Area - Kent County - Michigan

4. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

5. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

Proviso

 

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

 

Bouquet of Praise

 

Does your heart sing

each time you step outside on these

summer mountain mornings?

Do you feel like

you're in the presence

of a benevolent source?

When you discover beauty

in the outdoor world,

do you reflect and share?

Are you ready

to paint with words

a bouquet of praise?

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Mary ~ Crested Butte, Colorado

2. & 3. West Elk Mountains ~ Colorado

4. Sarah ~ Mount McKinnon ~ Utah

Every Living Green Thing

 

I am alive

with awareness

trying to maintain

the pace that

the green fire

of spring brings.

Leaves emerging, expanding,

filling in the forest

I used to see through.

Ferns are uncurling in the shade,

stretching filigreed fingers

toward the sky.

Wildflowers bloom on schedule,

then drop their petals

to the ground.

Warblers rush through;

feeding, flying north 

to breed and nest.

Time hurries off

at the speed of light,

already preparing for summer.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. American Beech - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Ostrich Fern - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Wild Columbine - Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. Yellow Warbler - Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

oh hepatica !

 

oh hepatica

touch my delicate fabric

of purple petals

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

Long Winter ~ Spring Rains

 

It's been a long winter;

sometimes violent,

sometimes silent.

But now, spring rains

have greened the grass.

Tulip bulbs, planted last fall,

have bulged deep in the soil

sending pale green hands above ground.

Spring Peepers and Chorus Frogs

have resumed the production

of their wetland musical.

And soon, not quite, but soon,

woodland wildflowers will emerge

from the carpet of dead oak leaves.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. Home Garden

3. 4. Trout Lilies - Home Woods

Keepers of the Past

 

These separate words

become lines of poetry

floating across blank pages

like leaves on the river.

Paper-clipped together

to be reviewed again,

to be revised again,

released in the future.

Eventually assembled

into a discernable

current of perception.

Poets are keepers of the past

and our hope for the future.

© 2022 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Grand River - Kent County - Michigan

2. Murray Lake - Kent County - Michigan

3. Fallasburg Park - Lowell, Michigan

4. Cannonsburg, Michigan