Poems from Unveilings*: Gary Beck

Gary Beck

My Troubled Land

America was only good

for some of the people,

some of the time,

but it was still better than

any other land.

Now, for the first time

in the history of the republic

an authoritarian President

who wasn’t reelected

claimed the election was stolen

and millions of his followers

supported his assertion

of fraud in the voting process,

although no documented proof

was ever presented.

Despite a last minute putsch

to prevent the new president

from being certified,

somehow democracy prevailed

a new occupant

moved into the White House

and began business of the state.

Yet the former president

still professes he was robbed

and many agree with him,

although the courts denied the claim

and they still show no evidence.

Some nations are ruled by ‘The Great Lie’,

which led to horrifying World Wars

that destroyed nations, cultures,

and now threatens our land.

Human nature brings to the surface

certain types of the ambitious

so urgent for money and power

there’s no traffic with decency.

Corruption becomes the tool box

to deal with business, government,

tempting, bribing, manipulating

those too weak to resist

the exertion of pressure

to collaborate with evil.

We have always been this way.

The strong lead. The weak follow.

When our leaders are good

many benefit and flourish.

Too often our leaders are bad

and jeopardize existence.

America, once beautiful

is at a turning point,

divided as only once before

when a great civil war

brought death to so many.

Yet out of the ashes of conflict

the nation reemerged,

became greater and greater,

until we ruled the world

with guns and dollars.

Then decay set in

and the lords of profit

neglect the needs of the people,

neglect the needs of the nation,

building corporate tyranny

that no longer pays taxes

to support the government.

We are on a steep precipice

with frightening imbalance

that we may not survive

when we’re so disunited

in a world of enemies,

ruthless competitors.

Our resources to meet challenges

foreign and domestic,

diminish drastically.

We may no longer have the means

to meet the next national crisis.

With all our failings

we were the best empire ever,

demonstrated by the help

we always gave to those in need,

always forgotten afterwards

by the bitterly resentful

who never realize

no one will ever

be more benevolent,

help more generously.

***

 

Submergence

Winter winds scour the city

driving citizens indoors.

except the homeless

sentenced to the sidewalks,

cardboard signs pleading;

‘Help a veteran’.

‘Blest are the givers’.

Psalms of disintegration

proclaiming need,

diminishing help

threatening survival.

*** 

On the Warpath

We send our troops to Iraq,

Afghanistan, Syria,

complicated lands

not like the old days

to fight Jerries, Japs, commies.

Now it’s armies, militias,

clans, tribes, sects

united in resisting

our volunteer force

that no longer questions

why we’re there.

Some say they’re bringing freedom.

Few seem to know they’re fighting

for rampant capitalism,

the right for profit

at the expense of others.

Unlike wars past

when soldiers believed

they had a cause,

now they go where they’re told,

kill who they’re told,

are in constant peril

from an implacable foe

who ravages our boys and girls

unprepared for relentless assault

from men, women, children,

who dispense death

in unconventional ways.

Our battered children

return home devastated

from inexplicable conflict

not covered in training

for our cultural innocents

recently at high school proms,

while the children of hardship

were nurtured on AK-47s, I.E.D.s.

They never had little league, ballet class.

Our children return home

suffering from P.T.S.D.

and we do not comprehend

the horrors they saw,

since we still have security,

public safety from ambush,

and we are bloated with comforts

and no longer ask

why our troops are there.

*** 

We’ve Always Had Artists

The storyteller in the cave

recounted the glory of the hunt,

when little men with spears

brought down the mighty mammoth.

The strange wall painter

looked at differently,

until he filled the cave

with wondrous images.

Then they were few,

not as important

as hunters, gatherers,

the clan healers.

But they were seen, heard,

enriched lives,

easily understood

in simple times.

Unlike the present

life grown so complex

our species so numerous

we are beyond hunting/gathering.

And as life for many

becomes so detached

from day to day existence

artists are no longer tribal.

They who had identity

in the confines of the caves

have lost their magic,

exiled from our hearts.

***

*Unveilings is an unpublished poetry collection that requests a look at the human condition

Bio: 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.

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Setu, October 2022