Poems
by Gary
Beck
Remaining Pleasures
Now that I am old,
ailing,
I will not see
many tomorrows,
will sorely miss
wonders to come,
no longer see
sights of my youth,
forests, lakes, mountains,
deer in a meadow,
Monarch butterflies,
except on tv.
Confined to a city
I still find delight
in a manicured park
just wild enough
for occasional sightings,
jay, cardinal, woodpecker,
exquisite delights
enough to satisfy
my need for beauty
in this harsh life.
What If?
When I was a boy
my friends and I
went to a big field
on Saturdays
to play baseball.
The rule was:
‘The first team there
plays the second team’.
We always got there early,
but the other team
was always bigger, older
and we usually lost,
yet we loved every minute.
One bad thing happened.
There was always one boy,
an aggressive complainer
who never admitted
that he struck out.
He was tough,
so we didn’t call him:
‘Sore loser’,
but that’s what he was
and he tried to spoil the game
for everyone else
by denying what happened.
Too Big to Fail
Many Americans
do not realize
the global empire
starting in the 1950s
is dissolving.
Giant corporations
no longer loyal
to the country that formed them
do not pay taxes
adding to the impoverishment
that afflicts the people
dependent on government
for survival subsistence.
Chaos in public affairs
prevents functioning
mandatory
for domestic and foreign
obligations
while the lack of action
alienates allies,
disillusions the people
already distrustful
of a failing system.
Misled Artists
The art world
seems to have room
for a limited number
of successful painters.
Yet art schools
churn out graduates
by the thousands,
with high hopes
of getting a gallery,
getting rich, famous,
with ever rising prices
at auction houses
where hordes of collectors
clamor for their work.
There is no consolation prize
for not making it big
and failed artists
never blame the schools
that put them on the path
for disillusionment.
Ode to Liz Cheney
The only voice
that dared speak out
against the leader
of rabid extremists
who have forgotten
how to compromise
in order to manage
a struggling republic
in danger of falling
by consolidation
of the wealth of the land
in mega corporations
only concerned
with their prosperity
not the nation
that steadily erodes
the once vast resources
meant to nurture
the hope of the people
for a bright future,
dissipating
in the bitter division
preventing cooperation
to benefit the nation.
The call by one woman
to bring back sanity
was sadly unheeded
as she lost her career
for daring to speak out
against the wrong man
to lead our country.
