On this Sunday morning country run,
is that our church choir I hear?
No, it's the Bobolink's bubbling call
hovering over the mostly alfalfa hayfield;
flutter-flying in a controlled stall
over June grasses growing tall,
and the long green promises
of a long summer approaching.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 2. Parnell, Michigan
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
This evening in my library,
I think about my morning walk.
Along the curving edge
of this hilly hay field;
windrows drying in the sun;
inhaling the perfect aroma.
Then across our gravel road
to the north shore
of McCarthy Lake.
I stepped softly to the end
of the old wooden dock,
avoiding little clumps
of dried muskrat dung.
I admire the flexible reeds,
projecting from calm water,
arching into their reflections.
Standing, watching, breathing,
waiting for something to happen.
A sudden slosh
from the edge of the thick cattails.
Too loud, too large to be a fish.
An OTTER !
First one I've seen
in my twenty-three years here.
showing the bullhead
he just captured
from the shallows.
Rising above the surface,
looking back at me,
showing surprise
at my otter surprise.
© 2021 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
2. & 3. McCarthy Lake - Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan
