Image: Unsplash, downloaded (https://unsplash.com/photos/IxooIwnNjCA) 8.1.2022.
Dead End Road
Potholes in my mind
trip up my memory,
disremembering
persons, places, names, dates,
accumulated knowledge
that once made me
a functional being.
Alteration
People sit in Bryant Park
enjoying the safe hint of nature,
lots of flowers, aging sycamore trees.
Game areas, food stands, diversions,
all combine for a pleasant experience.
No one able to imagine
this oasis in the city
was once a pollution site
of drugs, crime and violence,
strenuously avoided
by tourists and locals alike.
Shadow Rule
America is divided
the media proclaims,
a democratic illusion
purporting two sides,
however extreme
deluding us we have choices,
while the oligarchs
fund who they will,
however unqualified
to rule a nation.
About the Author: Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director and worked as an art dealer when he couldn't earn a living in the theater. He has also been a tennis pro, a ditch digger and a salvage diver. 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 and his published books include 32 poetry collections, 14 novels, 3 short story collections, 1 collection of essays and 5 books of plays. Published poetry books include: Dawn in Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways, Displays, Perceptions, Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings, The Remission of Order, Contusions, Desperate Seeker and Learning Curve (Winter Goose Publishing). Earth Links, Too Harsh For Pastels, Severance, Redemption Value, Fractional Disorder, Disruptions, Ignition Point, Resonance and Turbulence (Cyberwit Publishing. Forthcoming: Double Envelopment), Motifs (Adelaide Books). His novels include Extreme Change (Winter Goose Publishing). State of Rage, Wavelength, Protective Agency, Obsess and Flawed Connections (Cyberwit Publishing. Forthcoming: Still Obsessed). His short story collections include: A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications), Now I Accuse and other stories (Winter Goose Publishing), Dogs Don’t Send Flowers and other stories (Wordcatcher Publishing). Collected Essays of Gary Beck (Cyberwit Publishing), The Big Match and other one act plays (Wordcatcher Publishing), Collected Plays of Gary Beck Volume 1 and Plays of Aristophanes translated, then directed by Gary Beck, Collected Plays of Gary Beck Volume II and Four Plays by Moliere translated then directed by Gary Beck (Cyberwit Publishing. Forthcoming: Collected Plays of Gary Beck Volume III). Gary lives in New York City.
