Monday, September 30, 2013

Over and Again




rut



banal is routine, grind a state of mind.
easy to say that it is, but it is. 'dead end'

is cliche but certain. tolerate self-dissing
effort if necessary, but know it isn't. state

of mind is power, it's said: self-fulfilled 
prophesy. bullshit is easier said than done. 

so alarms are set before sunrise. enthusiasm 
as a word is as Coptic as the language: old 

gets old. pointless to use that as an excuse 
as clock-watching kills us by the hour.





Poem ©2013 Rick Burnett Baker 

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Magpie Tales 188: Once We Gathered....




where once we all gathered 



where once we all gathered, others do.
the path is continuity, every voice, change.

shadows are recall, a blur of faces, too. 
do you remember the cadence of laughter? 

can you step jolly over jagged paths?  future
has no mind to desire;  wind will turn leaves,

rain will dampen every ground, its water
falling torrid as the bitter past. 

























Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo shared by Tess Kincaid

In The Moment...





Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo taken off Park Ave. in Rochester, NY on September 28, 2013.
Line is from a poem by R. Baker, "Living a Moment"  2005.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Embracing Every Moment


                    Click on photo to embiggen and read:

















Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo taken morning of September 28, 2013.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Living On....



                      Click on photo to embiggen and read:


















Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Loneliness/Alone-ness


                          Click on image to embiggen:

















Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Autumn Years and Character



                   Click on imaged to embiggen and read:











Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Beauty Is......


                     Click on photo to embiggen and read:
















Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker

On This First Day of Autumn


assembly 


they gather at the 
breakfast club.  there 

are stories. gossip. 
years of recall.  clusters 

assemble in the park 
to protest time.  "seems 

like only yesterday."  but 
yesterday is here.  some 

will take the bench of 
respite to sit.  talk 

is softer under autumn's 
gaze.  days are shorter. 

"sweater weather,"  he 
says with a smile.  




















Photo© 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Poem© 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo taken on Park Avenue, Rochester, NY.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Strong/Weak Dichotomy



                           Click on image to embiggen:























Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker

Friday, September 20, 2013

Cling To You



                                 Click photo to embiggen:

















Photo/Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo taken at Chimney Bluff State Park, NY.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Last Days of Summer




It was a picture perfect summer afternoon. Summer comes to a close this week. But I spent today at Chimney Bluff State Park along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, just east of Sodus Bay, New York

Chimney Bluffs are 40 miles south of Prince Edward County, Ontario in Canada....not terribly far from my friends Linda Frasier and Steven Leak

I have MANY photos to share, ( took over 450 shots!) but for now, just one with a poem I wrote just a few minutes ago. 

What a beautiful beautiful day!




















Photo/Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

On the Cusp



                           Click on image to embiggen:





















Photo/Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo take by R. Baker at Letchworth State Park, NY Sept. 8, 2013.

Tulips In Autumn; Tulips For Winter






















Still 
a few days 
of summer remain.

I'll see
tulips 
as Autumn 
arrives, 

and when 
winter 
snow 
is 
falling.


© 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 

Monday, September 16, 2013

Beauty of Abundance





Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo by R. Baker taken at Letchworth State Park, NY Sept. 8, 2013.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Politics of Poetry




politics of 
poetry 



there is no democracy 
in poetry. only anarchy.

that is how it should be. 
no one votes beauty or 
majoritizes meaning; 

connection is a private 
affair.  the 'eyes' have it. 


Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker





Season's Song



                             Click image to embiggen:


















Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo by R. Baker taken in Letchworth State Park, NY September 8, 2013.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

A Season Is A Poem



                                    Click to embiggen:

















Photo/Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo taken on Park Avenue,  Rochester, NY September 14, 2013.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Truth Serum Series: Identity

Note:  I began this series last year with the epigrams on photos of blue sky and clouds.  I've begun reworking them onto photos that hopefully will offer more depth to the text and be thought provoking as well.  


                                  Click to embiggen:




















Photo/Text © 2012, 2013 Rick Burnett Baker

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Truth on Wings



                                    Click to embiggen:












Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo by R. Baker taken Sept. 8, 2013 at Letchworth State Park, NY.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Photos From My Photography/Epigram Show Titled "Potentials of Us (U.S.)



"Potentials of Us (U.S.)" 
Photo/Poetry/Epigram Show by Rick Baker 
September 6, 2013
Aviv Cafe Gallery
Bethel Christian Fellowship 
East Avenue 
Rochester, New York



Thank you again, to everyone who came to the event last Friday to make the show a success! And thank you to all of you who offered support and encouragement but were unable to attend! We had a gathering through the evening of between 50 and 60 guests. This was a fun evening with friends and others I met for the first time. 

Thanks again to Pat Zarpentine for her support and for introducing me to the First Friday Gallery Night events in Rochester.  

Another thank you to artist and gallery director Richmond Futch Jr.  for hosting this event, and for all his encouragement. 

Thank you also to First Friday - Citywide Gallery Night, Rochester NY, and to all the supporters and sponsors of this monthly event. 

It's my hope that some of the images and words will challenge those who see and read them to think about their surroundings differently each day. That's what the showing was and is all about! 

Thanks again to you all....I'm honored to know you all, and humbled by your kind words and friendship! 

Here are a few select photos from the event. 


Rick 


My mother, Betty Stovall Baker


Snacks from Edible Arrangements & Wegman's 

My mother and Pat Zarpentine









Monday, September 9, 2013

Summer Down the Path.....





















Photo/Text © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker
Photo taken by R. Baker at Letchworth State Park, NY, September 8, 2013.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Magpie Tales 185: Remember and Remember







paths incarnate: 
revisited



abundance describes us perfectly - 
opportunity too. convenience 

is a lighted path - toss the maps 
in a bin;  no shortage of owner's manuals 
to predetermined clarity. 

try beating an intellectual path then do it.
(if you can see that well at night)

think neon:  a visual allergy making 
you blink, rather than think. 

a pitch black forest at the end of your steps
is dark - is 

either life abbreviated or extended 
                    for one or the other.



Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 
Rockwell Painting shared by Tess Kincaid.

Friday, September 6, 2013

A Poem Before My Art Show




unself


upon the countenance of wisdom
we are in need; we search; we 
falter; 

we cling. there are hands to hold
words to encourage, dreams to 
unfold;

in that is the allowance of requite
to see the other side and believe
clemency.




© 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

My First Gallery Show Preview



The photos are hung. Friday is day after tomorrow, and my first showing begins! 

Here are a few photos of the gallery after we got everything set up. Many thanks to Pat Zarpentine for her help today, and encouragement all along. 

Thanks also to Richmond Futch Jr. who was there today to help us and offer valuable suggestions and encouragement. Richmond is the director of the gallery and an accomplished artist many of you have seen and will see again. 
Hope to see you all at the event this Friday!












Sunday, September 1, 2013

Magpie Tales 184: Out On A Limb? A Political Comment


















on human rights, 
doves of peace,
and hypocrisy



cow shit fertilizing the 
garden 
does not equate 
blossoms 
on the moral high road. 

sit high and observe. 
pontificate. 
tighten your thorny 
halo. 
wear it as a 
crown. 

pretend to feed the 
masses
with seeds of piecemeal 
hope
on ethnocentric rendering.

climb the 
high mountain.

swim the 
deep ocean. 

shoot the 
cosmos stars.

win 
hearts and minds.

when tilling 
the garden 
consider: 

moral high roads 
are constructs of 
intellectual relativity. 

cow shit 
holds
its own rewards. 




Poem © 2013 Rick Burnett Baker 
Photo by Jeanie Tomanek shared by Tess Kincaid.