Thursday, September 24, 2009

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. 

Thursday, September 17, 2009

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

Monday, September 14, 2009

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.

Wednesday, September 2, 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. 

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

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