Poetry

flickr photo

By

Gary Beck

Ah, Peace

Another serene day.

The park is filled with tourists,

families, students, workers.

The carousel is turning,

the Yoga class is stretching,

some are playing chess, other games.

Many sit relaxing,

drinking coffee, chatting.

Calm prevails.

Suddenly there’s a loud noise.

Everybody freezes,

looks around in alarm,

ready to run.

Another loud noise.

But someone yells:

‘It’s only a delivery man’,

this time not delivering

uninvited death.

Vestiges

The winds of change

now blow so fast

many can’t keep up.

Those left behind

become the plebes,

lumpen proletariat,

legions of the unwashed

who in a kinder age

would build a life

for family, kids,

now abandoned

by the tide of greed.

Abusers II

Human babies so frail

helpless for months

to manage much

except crawl, mewl,

totally dependent

on caretakers

to feed, protect, cherish.

Yet throughout history

they have been abandoned,

sacrificed, slaughtered,

but not like recent times

mindlessly murdered

by boyfriend, husband,

in senseless acts

that ended the lives

of innocent infants.

Gary Beck

Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director, and as an art dealer when he couldn’t make a living in theater. He has 11 published chapbooks and 3 more accepted for publication. His poetry collections include: Days of Destruction (Skive Press), Expectations (Rogue Scholars Press). Dawn in Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways, Displays,Perceptions (Winter Goose Publishing). Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. Conditioned Response (Nazar Look). Resonance (Dreaming Big Publications). His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press) and Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing). Call to Valor will be published by Gnome on Pigs Productions and Acts of Defiance will be published by Dreaming Big Publications. His short story collection, A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications). Now I Accuse and other storieswill be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City.