City Scenes XLI: Ambition

                                  Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Text © 2013 R. Burnett Baker
Photo taken by R. Baker, January 27, 2013 at Post Alley in Seattle.

Dystopia 3: Responsibilities of Freedom

Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Text © 2012 R. Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 153: Choice

shuffle 

choices are 

products of creation

though heaven knows 

we try to remain faithful

to tradition,

shuffling lives,

moments, specifics 

then we question 

reality and relevance;

wind sings through

telephone wires, and 

we, 

the recipients of culture,

pretend innocence still.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, AnOther

Shared by Tess Kincaid

Poem © 2013 R. Burnett Baker

Dystopia 2: Care(ful) About What You Wish For

Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken by R. Baker of graffiti art on the old Vietnam Veteran's of America Thrift Store, East Main St., Rochester, NY.  

Winter Windows

                                   Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker

A Morning Meditation

Click to embiggen: 

Poem ©2009, 2013 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo/Poem © 2013 R. Burnett Baker 

City Scenes XL: Authoritarianism As Art

Click to embiggen:

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken by R. Baker.  Graffiti on a trailer off Lake Avenue, near Kodak World Headquarters in Rochester NY.

Magpie Tales 152: A Mamma's Boy

mamma's boys 


once I was a cowboy
a rambler, vagabond

impetuous child-laugh
at anything mundane: 

once I was afraid of 
darkness and cold 

hidden things that 
snatch me away. 

the upturn mother's 
grasp, the guide 

of reason, discipline, 
possession 

allowed it all and 
kept it within reach: 

kept the edge in sight 
and safely at a distance.


Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 
B/W photo shared by Tess Kincaid 
Color hands from a photo taken by my brother Ron Baker of our parents Betty and Gene, 2009.

Imagining Success

                                   Click to embiggen: 

   
Photo/Text © 2013 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker near Rochester Public Market, Rochester, NY

Fail To Succeed? Why Yes, Thank You!

Click to embiggen:

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 

Truth Serum V: Objective/Subjective

                                     Click to embiggen:                                                

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker

Breaking Free. Or Not.

Click to embiggen:

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker

Watching Me, Watching You: Who's Watching?

Recent articles about the use of military drones for domestic surveillance in the United States should be cause for widespread alarm amongst the citizenry.  Apparently, it isn't.  

                        Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker

Magpie Tales 151: The Cover-Up

compulsion 


creation is 
compulsion,

wooden feet,
ceramic head,

I, a paint-spot
on the wall of 
blank canvas; 

I am compulsion - 
still, silent, hidden
in open space 

begging 
art.  



Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo shared by Tess Kincaid

These Days, This Night

                                    Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker
Photo taken by R. Baker, January 11, 2013 in Victor, NY.

Social Media? Now This Is Social Media....

Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 

Note:  Yes, I still have one.  It came with the house.  I STILL use it! Big fun!  Do you remember any phone numbers from this era?  Well, I do! My Aunt and Uncle's number in Amarillo, Texas: Fleetwood 60407                 

Truth Serum IV: Say What, Mr. Gore?

                                     Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Text ©2012, 2013 R. Burnett Baker

City Scenes XXXIX: Reflections of Self

(dis)quiet dream


over city and 
tree, river 
and street, 
neon and gas;

under clouds 
I rise, breaking
the barrier-mist
of sun
of heaven
of universe

of every imagined
pathology of 

silence. 

over city and 
tree we gape 
at our bodies 
in slumbered 
repose, and 

shudder at 
the vision 
of self. 


Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo ©2012, 2013 R. Burnett Baker 

Photo taken December 27, 2012 over Newark, NJ by R. Baker

Magpie Tales 150: Patina Was Her Name

patina 

some call it patina. 

I thought it was her 

name.  she calls it poor

and I say rustic, bars

and all.

but rustic won't 

protect us from 

the rain or wind; 

nor will seams

between wooden

planks; 

or cracks

in the door, 

beneath rigid lace, 

translucent as it is

lonely. 

"don't step on 

rusty nails," you 

warn, 

"they, too, 

have patina."

Image by Daniel Murtagh

Shared by Tess Kincaid.

Poem ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 

City Scenes XXXVIII: Zombies of History

                                  Click to embiggen: 

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker 
Photo taken by R. Baker off Alexander St., Rochester, NY. 

Truth Serum III

Click to embiggen:

Photo/Text ©2013 R. Burnett Baker