Not Quite Full Moon....

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Photo/Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker in Shepherd, Texas, December 24, 2012.

Another New Year Among Years.....

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photos © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 149: No Ifs. Ands. Butts.

Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photo:  Image by R.A.D. Stainforth, Shared by Tess Kincaid.

Note:  Visit R.A.D. Stainforth's website by clicking his name above.  Also hear him read many of Tess Kincaid's poems by clicking her name above.  

After The Storm

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Photo/Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Truth Serum II

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Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Truth Serum I: A New Series....

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Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Post No Bills II: The Ad Men

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Photo/Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker,  New York City, Sept 2012. 

Full Moon

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Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Another Perspective

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Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker in downtown Houston, Texas, October 2012. 

Vines That Bind

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Photo/Text © 2012 Rick Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 148: Lovers and Soldiers

legions 


hadn't anticipated this 
outcome, rolling stones
notwithstanding, but 
there are reflective 
moments, realizations 
of myriad paths. 

forward, backward - 
hedgehogs and shrews 
know their place in the 
order of universes: 

"let them be," you caution, 
"let them have their path, 
eyes drawn of fire, 
legs in goose-step purpose." 

"cower beside the passive 
moss-skin of naked trees," 
you tease, "winter will 
hide you surely as ice melts 
below the horizon." 


Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photo by Andy Magee shared by Tess Kincaid.

City Scenes XXXVII: Knowledge Is(n't) Power

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Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photo taken by R. Baker, Park Avenue, Rochester, NY.

Hard On Yourself?

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Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

From Discussion To Comment....

The first of these two epigrams is on the header of my "ranting" blog BakersTake, listed on my blog list.  

During a discussion this morning with a FaceBook friend,  I pointed out that header.  Then commenting on something she and I were talking about,  the second one was actually part of my reply to her.  I'll probably include these two in a themed exhibit I've been invited to do at the Eddy Tang Arts gallery in Seattle early in 2013.   

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©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Magpie Tales 147: Us, On The Horizon

horizon 


with every 
vista of victory,
tragedy, glory, 
beauty, love, 
hate, peace, 
war 

comes a 
horizon, a 
boundary beyond
the one before, 
now, 
ahead of; 

defining what is, 
from what was 
and is to 
be; 

where we are 
from where 
we were and 
are not; 

reality from fantasy. 

there are 
horizons in 
these sentences 
punctuated by 
every movement 
and fold of our 
resolve to 
action or 
inaction, 

from compassion 
to indifference: 

this, our 
common 
bond. 



Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo shared by Tess Kincaid 
Photo source:  The Meta Picture 

Perspective

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Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Too Soon. Always.

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Text/photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Rochester, NY. 

Upon These Walls.....

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Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken 12-3-12 by R. Baker on South Ave., Rochester, NY. Mural by artist Eder Muniz, Brazil.  

Magpie Tales 146: Time Passages

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Object to be Destroyed by Man Ray

Photo shared by Tess Kincaid 
Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

City Scenes XXXVI: Perspective

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Text ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker, 2012, Toronto, Ontario. 

Art and Survival

Painting by Eddie Tang, Seattle, Washington.
Image © 2012 Eddie Tang
Text © 2012 Rick Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 145: Senior Discount

Image shared by Tess Kincaid

premonition 

I will be the 

quirky old man

disheveled 

unkempt 

life-beaten

down; 

too tired 

to comb 

my hair 

or bathe

my mind 

in morning

ritual; 

a bum 

eccentric 

the sum of

friendlessness

parentlessness 

and responsible 

for my own 

disposal: 

let the walls 

crumble

rain fall 

wind blow 

dust gather 

and gather 

the elements 

before one 

final breath 

of senescent 

drama. 

©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

City Scenes XXXV: Mixed Message

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©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo of overpass graffiti taken by R. Baker on West Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY. 

Basic Necessities

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©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Old and New: Another Remodeled Piece

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©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Magpie Tales 144: Lights of Life

gather 


moon gathers clouds

sun swallows fog 

night and day dance
playfully ignorant of 
our dream and vision. 





Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Image:   Squall, 1986, by Andrew Wyeth  Shared by Tess Kincaid

Eyes Of The Beholder

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©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 143: The Thought Of You?

this burning 

imagining you is the myriad landscape

of lust beside or inside your rage 

inside your forest-fired

grip of skin and words

your kiss the softened calm 

to whet what isn't consumed

by my suffocated grasp of 

us. 

Verdun, 1917 by Felix Vallotton shared by Tess Kincaid.

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Bird's Eye View

landscape 

life is the patchwork quilt of soil and tree, 

squared and plaited, broken only by 

meanderings of river or stream.  cities  of 

steel or mud, brick or wood pepper landscapes

of movement and place.  the horizon is forever 

ahead and elusive till broken by vessels of man, 

or wings of fowl:  we all fly, swallow sky, 

entwined with one revealing moment of eternity.  

Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photos©2011 R. Burnett Baker 

Photos taken by R. Baker on a flight from Cleveland, Ohio to Houston, Texas October, 2011. 

Comment To A Friend, But Never Sent...

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©2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photo taken by R. Baker on a flight to Houston, 2012.

What's Old Is New: "hearts burned" Redux

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©2009, 2012 R. Burnett Baker

In our Image

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©2005, 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker September, 2005, Taiwan.

Votes For (Un)Reason

(un)reason



these are the days for reason
when no reason is heard; the
time for solitude when no calm
can be found.  we are the voices
shouting when all are shouting,
when every soul hungers for
the silence of peace.  this is the
moment, and we are the seconds,
minutes, and hours of each
past and present life - our ecumenical
futures in disjointed discourse.

______________________________


validation is what we seek through
every effort, each stance taken for
or against thereof; calling upon lords
and angels in the minions' tongues,
yet amazed at the disunity of
comprehension (my way is "the"way)
and so it goes:  death and destruction
propels goodness, a goddess lacking
resolve to prevail, each age golden or
the last:  the sage speaks softly - remains
hidden in meditation's forest.

________________________________


I ascend a moment of sanity to question
what methods of reason protect us from us:
what is the moral mechanism preventing
our descent into anarchy, stopping all
thoughts of psychopathy, propelling us to
walk past one another without incident?
upon the platform of stasis our comforts
grant us dominion over our more evil selves.
we vote with faith that something beyond
comprehension will prevail, and we in its
benevolence, will as well.



©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Communion

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Photo ©Lisa Kristine
Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 142: Face Of Stone

face of stone 



none may claim the stone

of crevassed history; of 

fire and ice, sun and moonscape.

stone holds all memory, 

conjures up igneous lust 

for mounds of androgyny 

on an untouched virgin grail. 




Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo:  Charis, Lake Ediza, California, 1937 by Edward Weston   Shared by Tess Kincaid 

Hit The Road, Jack

©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Looking Inward

©2012 R. Burnett Baker

City Scenes XXXIV: Towing The Line

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Photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Fair warning 

couldn't be 

clearer! 

Photo taken by R. Baker, 10-30-12 at 222 Andrews Street, Rochester, NY. 

Magpie Tales 141: Storm Story

(love) story 



once there was a

man I knew who 

stood in a blinding

rain storm, walking

the shores of flowing

streets, and seaside 

surf.  without caring he 

stopped to gather 

every tide from the 

sky, and begged to 

be struck by lightening. 




Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo shared by Tess Kincaid.

Never-ending

© 2012 R. Burnett Baker

City Scenes XXXIII: Signs Everywhere

empty nest 

there 

you are 

side-sleeping 

eyes closed,

quilted flesh

waiting: 

waiting 

for me 

to sleep. 

Poem ©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Summer/Autumn Lament

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Poem ©2008, 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo/image © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

A Rick Doodle

©2012 R. Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 140: 1776

new world order 

the shallows of vastness are few: 

in oceans deep, rivers raging, 

under forests serene.  

our search for footing is survival 

sounding an alarm, providence 

of a watchful eye,  the headlong 

drive to trumpet glory 

on a glassy water surface, 

beside a silent brook, or within

the saddest shower of autumn's 

falling leaves. 

Shared by Tess Kincaid

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Blues For You Too

Photo ©2012 R. Burnett Baker

this poetry of blues

these blues faded into night long ago 

along your journey to the world;  these 

eyes open red singing each refrain, 

every moribund note, from horn to voice. 

"no!" Big Mama, "no!"  Billie,  "no!" Francine:

"no no no!"  there still are ears 

aching to hear Sweet Emma sing 

"I'm Alone Because I Love You.”  

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

What Surrounds Us

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© 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Magpie Tales 139: Home Is Where The.....

this coming/going home 

we waited for these moments, 

we whispered to the hours, 

under leaves as blankets, 

warmth drawing us inward, 

nearer to our sheltered hearts: 

we willow in reverence, 

recompense for days lost to effort, 

this season of our shadowed silence. 

Midnight Snack, 1984, by Curtis Wilson Cost

Painting shared by Tess Kincaid 
Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker