summer dunes

 

shadows of grasses

dancing on warm summer dunes

choreography

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Whitefish Point - Upper Peninsula - Michigan

simplicity

 

seven silver drops

on a golden stem of grass

pure simplicity

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Devoted

 

In the cold spring air,

on the cool April ground,

green blades of  young grasses

spear through the dead mat of tans.

Here in a small depression,

a hidden patch of earth

is warmed by the breast

of a nesting Woodcock.

Four elegant eggs

splotched with earthy colors.

Vulnerable to the elements.

Dependent on her devoted presence.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Dancing Grasses

 

All these slender grasses

are dancing with 

invisible partners.

Their golden hair

swaying in the

summer breeze.

This silent choreography

absorbing my attention

with grace and light.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

Invasion

 

On a late summer walk,

two steps into the hayfield,

young grasshoppers, by the dozens,

are snapping their new wings.

They leap and land, 

leap and land;

steps ahead of

my invading hiking boots,

which must seem like 

a ground storm to them.

They leap and land,

like tiny mortar rounds,

sprinkling the green field

and grasses like 

live drops of rain.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

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

Fabric of Words

 

Each new morning

new creation

is breathed into being.

I am drawn into

attentive awareness

by my muse,

the Holy Spirit.

Gifts are presented by the Giver; 

woven through this day,

which I humbly strive to weave

into a fabric of words.

My camera captures 

components of creation,

fragments from the natural world,

images to ignite the writing. 

Small pieces of joy

return each year

in the greenwash of spring:

I look into the intensely blue sky

through a filter of Dogwood blossoms;

white purity in the shape of a cross. 

Along this trickle of stream

Forget-me-nots are remembered

for their delicate loyalty.

Wading in watery wetlands,

Yellow Iris, in feminine dress,

live short, yet luxurious lives.

Rinsed by soft rain,

arching leaves of grass

hold jeweled droplets 

in graceful balance.

Gifts presented by the Giver,

woven through this day. 

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Flowering Dogwood ~ Grand Rapids Township - Kent County - Michigan

2. Forget-Me-Not ~ Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County - Michigan

3. Yellow Iris ~ Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

4. Grasses ~ Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

After the Rain

After the rain,
the first spears of sunlight
shimmer on the water,
dazzle the landscape.

Words are too weak,
language inadequate
to express the lure
that captivates me.

I must get outside
and engage my camera
to capture the attractions
in my country setting.

Perhaps later,
I could polish a poem
that will shine with luster

like these raindrops do
on this sweet clover,
on these leaves of grass,
after the rain.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Pickerel Lake - Kent County - Michigan

2. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

3. Home Fields - Kent County - Michigan

dancing with the wind

thriving on the earth

grasses brush the summer breeze

dancing with the wind

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Seeds of Grass

Just yesterday,
tall grasses displayed
their fine filaments;
their inconspicuous anthers
holding a trace of soft yellow.

Flicked by my finger,
or brushed 
by an intermittent breeze,
they released soft clouds
of pollen.

Fertilization complete.

Today they bow down
in the summer rain;
begin to make
seeds of grass. 

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 3, & 5. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Luton Park - Kent County - Michigan

Sleeping With Crickets

I prefer the AC  OFF
and the windows open,
so that, through the screen,
the background percussion
of chorus frogs
enters our bedroom,
and blends with
the string section
of crickets.

I'm listening, but drifting,
as they approach
a closer harmony
in the deep fields.

After I've fallen asleep,
I dream of crickets
sipping silver drops of dew
collected on midnight
leaves of grass.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Lowell Township - Michigan 

silk and dew

get down in the grass

to see these superhighways

made of silk and dew

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grattan Township - Kent County, Michigan 

Into Tomorrow

Allow your eyes
to celebrate with
the land you live in.

Follow the arc of the sun,
the curve of the seasons,
the slow path of patient stars,
the grasses and trees 
dancing with the wind.

Be present
as time unfolds.

Carry with you
into tomorrow,
all that today offers.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Centennial, Wyoming 

2. Longmont, Colorado 

3. Dayton , Wyoming 

Arching

A fine frost filigrees
the dead grasses
still arching with 
grace and light;

still noticed
by the old poet
absorbing all he can
during the winter of his life.

© 2018 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: McCarthy Lake - Kent County, 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

Temporary Jewels

A single stalk of autumn grass,
heavy with ripened seeds,
holds the temporary home
of an unknown spider.

Its meticulous labor 
performed overnight.

At dawn it becomes
the domed receptacle
for an infinite number
of minuscule particles;
radiant and brilliant,
visible vapor.

A thousand points of light.
Temporary jewels.
Memorable gifts.  

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Ada Township, Kent County, Michigan

brushed

feathery grasses

being brushed by summer winds

like a silent song

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Wyoming 

Wind Instruments

Out in these rolling fields,
the wind is caressing
the tall and slender grasses,
and the tawny heads of wheat,

wishing to create pastoral music
before the grass becomes hay,

before the stalks become straw,
before the remnants
become short, stiff, stubble
void of melody.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 4. Lowell Township - Kent County, Michigan

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

May You Walk II

May you walk...

Under thunderheads rising high after sunset.

Into valleys streaked with earth's bold colors.

Among arching grasses frosted in winter sun.

Over rolling hills peppered with pines.

May you walk through the seasons 
of your life attentive, and alert,
with a joyful sense of gratitude.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy: May You Walk - February 7, 2014

Photo Locations:

1. Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County, Michigan

2. Dinosaur National Monument - Vernal, Utah 

3. McCarthy Lake - Kent County, Michigan

4. Theodore Roosevelt National Park - South Dakota

Robert Frost

gestures

dancing in sunlight

grasses brush the summer breeze

with graceful gestures

Squirrel Tail Grass - Elymus elymoides, Sitanion hystrix

Photo Location:  Steamboat Springs, (Steamboat) Colorado (Colorado)