City Scenes XVII: Vision

"Can one have an epiphany 

and not know it?" 

-R. Baker

Text and photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken by R. Baker on Fannin Street, Houston, Texas.

The Value Of Life

"Take not lightly the phrase 'Taken too soon' 

for all who are taken, are."

- R. Burnett Baker  

©2012 R. Burnett Baker 

City Scenes XVI: Pick Your Poison... Life, Or Something Like It

      invincible 

           our old ways 

        were drink 

            and laughter,

      with nary 

      a thought 

       to disaster 

small 

          or great. for 

     each one 

       we've seen 

    amongst 

 others, 

       (denying it 

            could happen 

   to us or 

        those of us) 

          there harbors

      little faith 

           in ecumenical 

          eventualities. 

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken by R. Baker, Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY.

City Scenes XV: Images Of Self

quest




homily to faith
pursuit of redemption
prayer for need: 


on walls
of desire 
are the 
most compelling
imprints of 
self. 







Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo of graffiti taken by R. Baker off Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario.

Magpie Tales 122: Farewell: Never Taken Lightly

farewells 




to say 
"I'll see you later" 
is to hedge a bet
that both of us 
will be here


each wave 
of the hand 
dismissing fear,
brushing against
silent doubt, 


footsteps in 
open air. 






Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker
Photo  Puddle, 1952, M. C. Escher,  shared by Tess Kincaid 

Morning Sky, June 14, 2012

life 
needs 
only 
a 
path 
                                       the 
                                       universe 
                                       creates
                                        






















Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photos © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photos taken by R. Baker, June 14, 2012 Rochester, NY

City Scenes XIV: Graffiti Minds

"Too FAt FoR 

LEAtheR"

the city doesn't 

care about my 

looks.

reflection-checking

in shop windows 

is revealing only 

to my mind and 

definitely at 

a quickened 

pace, passing

window after window, 

hoping no one 

notices me looking 

at me, checking 

to see if I'd do me…

mostly I'd politely 

pass, proffering,

 "no thanks,

I'm just browsing!" 

besides, I look 

better in baggy 

pants. 

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken by R. Baker at The Bug Jar bar, Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY.

Magpie Tales 121: He Tweets Me, She Tweets Me Not

Still Life, 1670, detail by Jean François de Le Motte

Texted 

This week's Magpie Tales photo prompt, shared by Tess Kincaid, made me think about now, the future, and the past as they all relate (or not) to our modern, 21st Century techno-lives.  

Sitting in a coffee shop this past week, I was relaxing.  I was people watching.  I was reading.  Yes, reading an actual newspaper,  one of those things you have to unfold, shake open, hold up to your eyes and read in complete sentences. Remember those?  Of course you do!  Anyone reading poetry blogs knows exactly what I'm talking about.  

Relaxing the paper from my face, I looked around the coffee shop.  There were a number of younger people in the place, and all but one had a gizmo in their hands, thumbs jabbing furiously at tiny buttons with letters of the alphabet on them.  

Texting.  

Sexting, maybe?  I doubt it.  I doubt they have that much imagination going for them, judging by the the dull, expressionless faces I could see!

But it occurred to me that with all this technology, all these flashy toys, all the information available to us online, or in actual libraries, (remember those?) we seem to have created, or SOMEONE/THING has created, a nation of the dumbest humans on the planet.  My daily conversations with the young employees at work suggest that a seemingly large number of high school and college age people today are carelessly unaware, and mostly UNINTERESTED in what's going on around them beyond the tips of their thumbs! 

Through this admittedly biased view, though, I wonder this:  What will all these young people, and the older ones, too, who have been embraced by this brave new world of "NoNothing",  have to show for all this information and communication?  What will they remember from their text messages?  What legacy will be left of their lives and interactions with family, friends, loved ones?  What will their children or grandchildren have as touchstones to their ancestry that will give guidance to their own lives?  

"...stories change 

as memory dusks, 

anguished riflings 

notwithstanding..." 

I'm so thankful for letters.  There are ones I've sent to my parents over the years from any number of places I've lived, worked or traveled to.  My mother has boxes full of old letters from my dad.  We have, just as millions of other families have, these physical legacies and histories of the day to day lives of our ancestors, and ourselves!  

What are these techno-junkies creating to physically hold in their hands 20 or 30 or 50 years from now - to physically hold and touch an object that a beloved themselves had once held?  Where are the physically written stories of their lives that future generations will someday appreciate and cherish?

"...losing reference 

to our lives at times

is minor annoyance,

but in other circumstances,

it's the ravishing 

decomposition of 

disease that steals 

our pasts..." 

There comes a time in all our lives when we try to remember an event, a name, a small detail.  The iCloud, or whatever it is called this week, will not always be there for us to hold and review.  It's not actually there now.  It's just a concept.  

"...but for those 

lucid thoughts

we signed, folded,

sealed, sent, and 

preserved, life is 

restored to any 

and all who make

time to 

live in the moment, 

or read the past..." 

If anyone wants to leave a legacy of sorts to the younger generation and their future, leave it in writing. Give them something to hold between their thumbs that will not be gone the moment a "sent" button is pressed.  

Tell them they have been texted with pen and paper.

Offer them a future because they can physically see and hold the past! 

Rick Baker 

June 10, 2012 

Rochester, NY 

© 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

For One In Sadness

tears enough

there are 

tears enough 

for all the world,

but precious few

for one 

in sorrow -  

burdened, alone,

behind smiles 

for all else,

healing comes

from hearts 

of those 

willing to stand

against the

gale. 

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

At Any Given Moment

eye
of the
beholder


of what 

was said 

to be 

less than 

stellar  

I see 

beyond the 

window:

                                 sun and 

                                 breeze, 

                                 and 

                                 green;

                                 sounds 

                                 of color

                                 clinging -  

                                 clinging to

                                 the tenuous 

                                 movement of 

                                 "now"

                                 we try 

                                 desperately 

                                 to preserve. 

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

Blue Moon Saw Me Standing...

playing our 
song 




a breeze played
telephone wires, 
every conversation 
cooled and traveling
unknown paths.


nightfall 
was expected 
but not all together
welcome, for 
a daylong 
symphony of thought
gathered, and we,
too, 


gathered ourselves 
for soul music in 
sunlight and fire, 


Blue Moon and 
a skipping stylus 
holding us mid-air
against our 
will. 






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

Magpie Tales 120: These Crazy Dreams

Image by Klaus Enrique Gerdes

Shared by Tess Kincaid

dream-scaped

I dreamt 

I flew

where sparrows 

wing,

symphony 

strings,

floral things, 

through orchard

and field my 

hunger revealed

image, images,

imagination;

my shoulder 

a burden of 

delight - moon,

light, sky 

flight, 

this night

of restless 

sleep. 

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

City Scenes XIII: Up Against The Wall

recall 

an overlay of years 

or decades, pantomime 

flash of memory, is 

painted on weathered 

stone:  
our 

lives. 

Poem © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker on Monroe Ave., Rochester, NY 2012.

What Appears, Appears.

"Spontaneity creates itself."

- Rick B. Baker, 1988

©1988, 2012 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo © 2012 R. Burnett Baker