last light

in late November

last leaves collect the last light

brief glow in tree tops

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

brittle

 

brittle leaves hang down

wall of cornstalks stand rigid

ready for harvest

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

melancholy days

 

melancholy days

sadness accumulating

in the fallen leaves

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Fremont, Michigan

Outdoor Ballet

 

Here it comes again;

the annual autumn

medley of leaves.

All the talk is about the colors,

the intensity, the "peak week",

where to drive or walk

for the perfect peek.

Or simply watching

these golden slippers;

a gathering of grace

as they flutter-fall to earth.

A short-lived display.

An outdoor ballet.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

3. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. East Grand Rapids, Michigan

 

Full Release

 

In September,

especially if it's been dry,

trees lose their leaves

singly, and casually.

But by mid-October

it becomes full release.

A massive display,

an elegant ballet

of twists and turns.

Colored leaves

sifting through branches.

Falling gracefully

through cool autumn air.

I imagine each leaf

a moving prayer.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Tiffany Avenue - Kent County - Michigan

2. Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

3. Home Trees - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

 

Climbing Columns of Crimson

 

September is their season.

Clinging to tree trunks and large limbs.

The flamboyant Virginia Creeper.

Climbing columns of crimson.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Vergennes Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Ada, Michigan

You may also like my creative non-fiction essay titled: 

"Virginia Creeper" published October 9, 2012. Here is the link: 

"Virginia Creeper"

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

Morning Hours

As the autumn sun is rising,

often crimson or golden,

I'm in my writing chair

in our cozy library,

looking out the window

for new ideas, for a few

words to come together.

These few, precious hours

allow me to observe the way

the American Beech leaves

first begin to shuffle,

or the way the ambitious wind

tears the remaining  leaves

from these broad White Oaks.

Most days, these morning hours

are fruitful and fulfilling,

and I am grateful

for the enrichment

as I press pen to page,

collecting fragments;

finding my poetry.

© 2024 Richaard Havenga

Watching Leaves Blow

 

Writing words of poetry

is like watching 

autumn leaves blow

during October's final days.

I try to catch a few

when I'm running

as they fall through the sky.

It's not easy to predict

where they'll fly to,

or where they will land.

Sometimes they hit me

square in the face.

© 2024 Richard Havena

October's Opulence

 

After getting battered

by this leaf blizzard,

I am now shuffling through

a multi-colored mosaic;

a layer of crisp leaves

covering this woodland trail.

I'm dazzled again by 

October's opulence.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

One in a Million

 

With little fanfare,

summer slips into autumn

in each individual leaf

as it turns from green

to yellow, gold, or bronze,

then falls silently to earth

and lies there quietly

with a million others,

until you make one leaf special

by selecting it

and picking it up.

This one in a million,

now pressed in the pages,

within the words

of a poetry book.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Home Library

Sumac

 

As September merges with October,

Staghorn Sumac captures our attention.

Displaying a pleasing palette

of bold autumn colors.

Perfectly pinnacle leaves aligned.

Flaunting red, orange and yellow

on sharp-toothed leaflets

tapering to their tips.

Crowned with clusters

and clumps of fuzzy berries

in burgundy and scarlet;

our showy, native shrub.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

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

Erect

 

These golden towers of September,

erect on their stiff stalks,

catch your outside eye

as they flare in the wind.

They dominate

the early autumn landscape

before aging into

weathered gray flags.

Finally, to rise above

deep winter snows,

erect on stiff stalks. 

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. & 3. Kent County - Michigan

Wingtips

 

How could these Sandhill Cranes

ever realize the admiration

I have for their elegant grace

while flying through sky-blue sky

with their wingtips curved up,

feathering the golden air of autumn?

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - Arizona

One More October

 

Yes, we are all dazzled

during these glorious days of autumn.

We knew this was coming;

waited with patient anticipation.

Now we are surrounded

with the splendor of the leaves.

Wanting to slow down time,

to make the show last longer.

To linger in warm yellows,

bold reds, soft oranges, and russets.

To store it in our memories

until it returns next year.

One more palette of color.

Give me one more October, please.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Ouray, Colorado

3.  4. & 5. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

6. Egypt Valley Country Club - Kent County - Michgian

7. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Acceptance

 

In the quiet air of an autumn afternoon,

something seems to be asking for my attention.

Something hidden in the vacant spaces

between leaves turning from green to gold.

Waiting for confirmation,

validation, affirmation.

It could be the inscrutable presence,

the essence of the Holy Spirit.

I will offer my benevolent attendance

through a fervent prayer of acceptance.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan

3. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan