Autumn: Delicate Violence

Leaves transition from green to red, orange, then dead brown. 

One tiny part of a tree snaps from a branch and flutters delicately to the ground, to be  blown on a breeze, tumbled across grass, rocks and streams, along roadways, or raked into piles to be composted or burned.  

Leaves:  Ignored reminders of a season of warmth.  A season of life.  A season of lovers moving with nature from delicate summer breezes into the biting cold of violent winter winds. 

Like lovers in transition, a leaf of gold comes to rest on the forest floor with the hushed sound of delicate violence. 

Introduction to the chapbook "Delicate Violence",  © 2006 by R. Burnett Baker.

Photo © 2006 by R. Burnett Baker.  

Photo taken in 2006 by R. Baker in

 Highland Park, Rochester, NY.

_________________________________

too quickly 

too quickly, 

we say, 

summer has passed

but the sun 

rises and sets 

on schedule. 

Photo and poem © 2008 by R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken by R. Baker in Highland Park, Rochester, NY, 2008. 

black against

the wall

reaching for 

the wall 

my hand 

touched its shadow 

yet 

could not 

grasp the image

of fingers 

black 

against 

the

wall. 

Poem © 2009 by R. Burnett Baker 

Photo © 2009 by R. Burnett Baker

moon past full

at the end of the day

there was no 

we us ours 

only 

you and me,

a moon past full 

and an empty road

without a care 

in 

the 

world. 

Poem © 2009 by R. Burnett Baker 

Photo of the side of a cardboard shipping box 

taken by R. Baker, 2009.

hearts burned

standing

on temple steps 

a thousand 

chanting hearts burned

incense offerings.

what could have 

stung my eyes

fragranced 

my 

soul. 

Poem © 2009 by R. Burnett Baker 

Photo © 2005 by R. Burnett Baker 

Photo of Wong Tai Sin Temple, Hong Kong, taken 

by R. Baker, February 2005. 

Summer's Here? Or There?

  

In the Northeast summer really got started the second week of August.  And last night, temps in the 40's were ushering in the first early morning of September.  I mean, really!  Global warming is beginning to be a big disappointment for me.  Sure Texas and some of the Great Plains states have sizzled this summer, but overall the rest of the country has been relatively cool.  

I'm just not ready to wear sweaters and jackets.  And I'm hoping I don't begin to smell that metallic fragrance of sn** in the air this month.  

It's just too soon to chill!  

Rick Baker 

Rochester, NY

September 1, 2009

summer grips 

chill 

this first evening 

of September.

clear its sky

as summer grips 

a desperate 

night. 

why do we 

see ourselves 

breathe 

when we 

should be 

fanning 

droplets of 

sultry 

sweat? 

Poem © 2009 by R. Burnett Baker