The sky seems bluer
when seen between
a flock of clouds.
Cumulus passing silently
over the reflective lake.
In my kayak,
I'm floating on the clouds,
riding in the blue sky.
© 2024 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan
The sky-blue sky
reads like a sentence from summer,
punctuated with commas of cumulus.
The sky-blue lake
collects the scroll of clouds
on its mirrored surface.
I'm floating in my kayak
on the sky-blue sky,
paddling between clouds of poetry.
Then the wind exhales
and brushes the clouds
into ripples of scribbles.
© 2023 Richard Havenga
Photo Location:
McCarthy Lake - Kent County - Michigan
Through this water lens,
long ropes of water lily
rise from the lake bottom.
Flexible underwater,
growing toward the light,
smooth yellow discs
float on the surface.
A single Bluegill,
suspended in time,
stares in stillness at my kayak.
I sit still and stare back.
© 2022 Richard Havenga
Photo Location: Wabasis Lake - Kent County - Michigan
From my kayak, on calm water,
I watch the gray-blue
feathered sculpture
of a Great Blue Heron.
He stands on stick legs
in the soft shadows
of the smooth shallows,
as still as a dead branch.
Yellow eyes stare with intensity.
S-shaped neck ready to strike.
He leans slowly forward
with imperceptible movement.
But then a change of attitude:
He decides to leave the water;
lifting effortlessly on wide wings,
gaining altitude, legs dangling behind,
rowing through humid summer air.
Seeking new water, a new site,
to resume stealth stalking
on stick legs, with a supple neck,
to stand as still as a sculpture.
I continue to paddle
in the soft shadows
along smooth shallows
gliding through humid summer air.
© 2021 Richard Havenga
Photo Locations:
1. & 3. Rogue River ~ Rockford, Michigan
2. Eagle Lakes Park ~ Naples, Florida
