Sheltered and Content

multitudes of me

multitudes of me follow and precede

cautious steps unknown;

every moment is eternal, each step

describes the season as ‘uphill’.  

solitude in me listens for silence 

within silence, content. 

Photo Original © by Pat Zarpentine (Original photo not shown on this post)
Photo digitally altered by Rick Burnett Baker
Poem © Rick Burnett Baker
Altered Photos © Rick Burnett Baker

SERIES: The Architecture of Grief and Redemption

of every passing 

we are 

fire and ash,

water and stone,

flowers and earth.

we are 

sons daughters

mothers fathers 

of every 

passing and ascent 

of night to 

day.

Photo/Poem © Rick Burnett Baker

This Cross We Bear

SERIES:  The Architecture of Grief And Redemption™

Photos © Rick Burnett Baker 

All Rights Reserved

"DREAM. PLEASE EXCUSE OUR APPEARANCE..." ™ A Photo Essay

A Morning Walk

Toronto, Ontario 

Fall of 2016

Presentable.  Looks can deceive,

and yet we hasten to judge, "Get a job." 

The distance between a sidewalk 

and a park bench can be measured

by inches, dollars, or days. As a 

bystander, I remind myself that 

lives are created or destroyed 

by those metrics.

"Homeless 97% Blind

Veteran. Give what u 

Can Afford Please. 

Not For: 

Booze - 16 years without

Smokes - 38 years without 

Drugs - Never taken or tried."

I have the luxury to 

analyze this situation.

Within the juxtaposition of words and reality 

adjacency is sometimes a coincidence.

"DREAM.  PLEASE EXCUSE OUR APPEARANCE..."

Someone less fortunate than me offers 

a helping hand.  Shamefully, I cannot

say that this is a coincidence. 

I ask myself, "Who hasn't dreamt of being 

young and rich." 

I harbor that thought not with sarcasm, not 

as dark humor, but with a keen awareness of 

the irony in this scene.  

The word 'humility' comes to mind. Beneath

the surface, there lurks a sense of guilt.

Photos/Text ©Rick Burnett Baker

All Rights Reserved