Photo by Rick Baker
                  streets of us 
the streets are mud; are cobblestone;  
are brick;  are blackened as tread, feet, 
and weather beat the path we wander. 
sometimes we stop to tie a shoe or adjust 
a belt, but other times we pause to look 
at something pulling at our eye, and then
we see it:  our reflection or another person 
staring back.  it's this moment  the confident 
self parts lips to speak from the gut;  
that moment when we hesitate to spill our 
secrets, then adjust the heart on our sleeve so 
that no one notices we're lost and reluctant
to ask directions or simply say 'hello'.  
Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 
Photo © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 
Photo taken at Ford's Theater, Washington DC, December 31, 2013. 

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