Rick Baker, Oscar Winner

"I'd like to thank the Academy, my family, 

and all those who have worked so tireles..."

Oh. Wait.  You mean it was the OTHER

Rick Baker?  

Yeah. Right.  Him.  After all, I am 

THE 

Rick Baker. 

NOT 

the 7 or 8 time Academy Award winning 

special effects/makeup artist

Rick Baker. 

Whatever......... 

Magpie Tales Photo Prompt 53: Evil Beautiful Crystal

elegant crystal




hypertension/ ventricular hypertrophy/gastric ulcers/
osteoporosis/ renal disease/ heartburn and death


food preservation/ fluid balance/ essential for life


tastes good


why the evil crystal smirk, 
you carved vessel beauty? 




Poem © 2011 by R. Burnett Baker 
Photo courtesy of Tess Kincaid at Magpie Tales

line of skin




I bare my body,
offer every flawed 
line of skin 
to you


my heart is young, 
I bite my palmed 
confession of desire,
begging countenance 
for these unwanted
imperfections






Poem ©2011 by R. Burnett Baker 
Photo ©2002-2011 www.egon-schielle.net 

Magpie Tales Photo Prompt 52

old(er) house




across the road your hearth 
seemed to peek around branches,
leaning in for a better view.


a head of white belies your 
desire for summer's heat, 
a barren tree the obstacle 
to living free. 


Poem © 2011 by R. Burnett Baker 
Photo courtesy of Tess Kincaid of Magpie Tales

feel the hush




I've 
consumed your
image,  
sung your
papered
words,


garnered
the hush 
of your
breath 
against my
naked neck


                 you, the
                 stranger I've 
                 known but
                 never 
                 touched. 




Poem © 2011 by R. Burnett Baker 
Photo © 2011 by R. Burnett Baker 

An Early Valentine's Month Poem

Lovers of Valdaro




for the mystery
of our being we
collared the earth
as home,  a


shadowed sepulchre
of dust-cloaked 
embrace; therein


dwells the fallow
of my heart, 
hollow like thunder
in a valley, chest


upon chest 
pulsing echoes of 
time's sweet silence, 


the truce
of pain. 




Poem © 2011 by R. Burnett Baker 
Photo of remains of Neolithic "lovers"  discovered near Mantova, Italy in 2007. 
Photo taken by Pasquale Sorrentino.  

Magpie Tales Photo Prompt 51: Soul After Sole

passages




across 
salt-worn rimes
and sun-baked 
face, soul 


after sole 
we tread 
our passages 
of not quite
eons. 


Poem © 2011 by R. Burnett Baker
Photo courtesy of Tess Kincaid at Magpie Tales