Knowing When

 

Please read these words

slowly.

They arrived after careful,

purposeful searching.

Some people say that writing

is not work,

but writers know 

the work of writing.

Occasionally, but rarely,

the words pour down,

like a sudden, summer

thundershower.

But most of the time

the words arrive slowly,

like the gradual, daily growth

of new leaves in the spring.

Writing requires patience, persistence,

and perceptive discernment,

to know when

you have it right.

Knowing when

it's done.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Bird Island, North Carolina

2. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Breathe

 

My hope in writing,

is that the lines

in some of my poems

may breathe with insight.

Inhaling inspiration.

Exhaling satisfaction.

A discernable voice.

A distinctive vision.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Pool of Poetry

 

My pen is poised

over this yellow pad

like a heron's beak

above the river's surface.

Ready to plunge

for a choice word

swimming in the dark water.

Probing the possibilities,

within the pool of poetry.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. North Fort Myers, Florida

2. Rogue River - Rockford, Michigan

Avoiding Rhyme

 

Writing free verse poetry

is mostly about finding

the preferred word,

and avoiding the rhyme

most of the time.

Sometimes it works out,

but when you're about

to end a line, another word

enters your surprised mind.

So I just go with the flow

and let the poem grow,

knowing that soon

I'll have to prune.

Or start all over again,

and trace where I've been.

Amen.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. White Sands National Park, New Mexico

2. Home Garden

3. Home Library - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Arriving

 

Have you allowed time

to blossom in your memories?

Recalling the precious moments

when you felt alive and real?

Bringing your quiet past

into a shared life of joy.

 

Writing poems can do this.

In the gardens of your mind.

The words are always arriving, 

ready to bloom.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Luton Park - Rockford, Michigan 

(Orange Butterflyweed) 

Released

 

The interior voice keeps rising, 

slowly, like bubbles flowing below

the thin ice of a winter stream.

Ready to emerge and be heard,

or to be read and concurred.

The poet keeps writing,

the words keep rising,

hoping to be released.

© 2025 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County - 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

Hovering Pen

 

Sometimes,

my pen hovers 

above these blue lines

on my yellow pad,

hesitant, and groping.

Waiting for anticipation 

to molt into inspiration.

Awaiting a song lyric

to spark a starting line.

To find by chance,

a ten year old poem

from my old notebooks.

To reinvigorate

my lyrical poetics,

my creative imagery.

To activate my

hovering pen.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Words Obscured

 

The slow summer heat

loitered into mid-September,

so I lingered on the deck

until my written words

were obscured

by the deepening dusk,

and contentment

filled my cup.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Talking Waters

 

He sat on a log

on the gravelly bank

of the mountain stream,

in quiet contemplation.

Listening to the talking waters.

Studying the current

roll over rocks,

bend around boulders.

Until it flowed

into writing

that pleased

his soul.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Taylor River - Almont, Colorado

2. Arkansas River - Buena Vista, Colorado

Windows of Your Heart

 

Open the windows of your heart.

Extend the antenna of awareness.

Examine the ordinary,

until it becomes extraordinary.

Be alert, and listen to your muse.

Prepared to capture ideas and images.

Then express what you truly feel.

Write of things that make your heart sing.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

1. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Ten Years from Today

 

If I live to be eighty-six,

or possibly beyond,

I often visualize

our only daughter Sarah,

when she comes to visit,

(who is a good writer),

offering to read to me

the poems I've written

in these later years of my life.

I'll listen to her soothing voice,

her natural intellect,

her excellent annunciation,

her perfect pronunciation,

and her musical mind

reading my words back to me.

I'll ask, "Did I write that?"

"Yes Daddy, when you were seventy-six."

Then she'll show me my photographs

that helped to illustrate my words.

Then she will say:

"This is good stuff Daddy.

You could still write poetry today."

And she'll hand me a pen and paper.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Ludington State Park - Michigan

2. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Praying

 

When I pray,

I try to quiet my mind

and concentrate

on God's presence.

Then, humbling myself

with deep respect,

I give sincere thanks

for His incredible creation,

and wait patiently

for the Holy Spirit

to stir my soul

with inspiration,

to accept and embrace 

who I am called to be,

seeking guided navigation

from obscurity into purpose,

to be ready

to accept His message

and show gratitude

through my writing.

© 2024 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

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

2. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

4. Home Road - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Talking to My Shadow

 

Streaming through windows

etched with the lace of frost,

I'm wrapped in a veil

of pale winter moonlight.

My shadow on the floor

moves across white carpet

faithfully following me,

but wondering why we

are up in the morning at three.

"I couldn't sleep," I say

to my shadow, 

"when moonlight on snow

is as bright as day."

I think of Cat Stevens' lyrics:

" I'm being followed by a moon shadow,

moon shadow, moon shadow."

Then I return my view

to the bright moonlight

and begin to contemplate

a possible poem I could write.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Home Skies

3. Home Woods (at night) - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Running Words

 

An umbrella of cloud

covers the morning.

I study the form, density, and 

altitude of these cloud bottoms.

Consider the potential

for afternoon rain.

Try to predict

without a weather map,

without a weather app,

today's forecast:

Run this gravel road

while it's still cool.

Weed my perennial garden

as the temperature slowly climbs.

Write on the deck

until raindrops make the words run.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Ada Township - Kent County - Michigan

My Middle Name

 

I'm seventy-five years old.

This is the middle

of the eighth decade

I've been blessed to live

on this beautiful earth.

The morning hours

of writing poetry

have been fulfilling and fruitful.

These past twelve years

passing too swiftly.

I am enriched every day

by observations of nature.

Grateful to God the Creator

for sensory awareness,

and for the freedom to explore. 

I am

accepting the past,

living in the present,

and anticipating the future

when I'll be running and writing.

My middle name is Gratitude.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Canyonlands National Park - Utah

2. Home Deck - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

3. Butonbush - Kent County - Michigan

4. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

Reading Outdoors

 

Oh, the many benefits

of reading outdoors:

The sun shining brightly

on the pages of your book.

Tree shadows passing

over the paragraphs.

Perhaps golden leaves

landing in your lap.

A small choir of birds

singing in the background.

Or a clamorous crowd of geese

causing you to look up.

Occasional bursts of wind

turning the pages for you.

Dragonflies landing on the lines,

walking on the words.

Maybe a cool stream

trickling over your toes.

Or the sound of gentle ripples

entering your ears.

All these welcome distractions

affecting your concentration.

Causing you to get paper and pen.

Following the urge to write outdoors.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Fallasburg Park - Lowell, Michigan

2. Tassell Park - Cascade, Michigan

3. Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve - Parnell, Michigan

4. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

5. SaddleBrooke - Arizona

Syllables

 

A Mourning Dove walks

pink-footed through the sand,

unfurling soft syllables

into the September sun.

I glance up from my writing,

look through the binoculars,

and watch the breast feathers

settle back into place.

I look back at my work,

and attempt to write

my own syllables,

but they fall short.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

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