Thursday, October 3, 2019

High Abuse

By Gary Beck 

I once dreamed of a land
where all were free
with equal opportunity.
Grade school cured me of that.
As I grew up
prejudice, discrimination,
hatred, violence
pervaded my country,
poisoning the home of democracy.
It took a while for me to learn
our rulers weren’t elected officials,
but obscure oligarchs
who bought legislators
for their own needs,
rather then the nation.
And when amoral corporations
abandoned America
for higher profit abroad,
removing a blue collar class
that resisted the bosses,
leaving a rust belt
to defile the landscape.
And year after year
more and more of our rights
were taken away
until our birthright is tarnished
by ruthless exploiters
of a once hopeful people.


Gary Beck has spent his adult life as a theater director. He has 14 published chapbooks. His poetry collections include Days of Destruction (Skive Press), Expectations (Rogue Scholars Press), Dawn in CitiesAssault on NatureSongs of a ClerkCivilized WaysDisplaysPerceptionsFault LinesTremorsPerturbationsRude AwakeningsThe Remission of Order and Contusions (Winter Goose Publishing). Conditioned Response (Nazar Look), Virtual Living (Thurston Howl Publications), Blossoms of Decay,ExpectationsBlunt Force and Transitions (Wordcatcher Publishing). His  novels include Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing), Call to Valor and Crumbling Ramparts(Gnome on Pig Productions), Sudden Conflicts (Lillicat Publishers). Acts of Defiance  and Flare Up Wordcatcher Publishing). His short story collections include A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications), Now I Accuse and other stories (Winter Goose Publishing) and Dogs Don’t Send Flowers and other stories (Wordcatcher Publishing). The Republic of Dreams and other essays (Gnome on Pig Productions). Feast or Famine and other one act-plays will be published by Wordcatcher 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 magazines. He lives in New York City.

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