Doctor’s Appointment

By Gary Beck 

The streets are crowded on the way to the doctor’s office,
making me even more nervous,
since no one is distancing.
The nurse takes my temperature,
allows me to stay.
I look suspiciously at other patients.
They are here for sports injuries
but I don’t trust anyone
in a time of pandemic.

Finally I see the doctor
who is detached, impersonal.
He treats my ankle,
gives me a shot
of I don’t know what.
Says goodbye. Leaves.
The nurse bandages me.
Says goodbye.
I rinse my hands with disinfectant,
walk home on crowded streets
and hope I didn’t contract
a fatal disease.

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, 13 novels, 3 short story collections, 1 collection of essays and 3 books of plays. Gary lives in New York City.

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 Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways, Displays, Perceptions, Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings, The Remission of Order and Contusions (Winter Goose Publishing). Conditioned Response (Nazar Look), Virtual Living (Thurston Howl Publications), Blossoms of Decay,Expectations, Blunt 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.

Lower Economics

By Gary Beck

In the mall shoppers come and go
as mindless as the buffalo,
herded for their own distraction
into havens of attraction,
with offers of acquisition
for a simple cash transaction
by the consumers who lost sight
of how to curb their appetite.


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.  Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His forthcoming novels will be published by Gnome on Pigs Productions and by Dreaming Big Publications. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been also been produced Off Broadway. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City.

Escapism

By Gary Beck

Within my mind’s imagining
are worlds of me that I invent.
I forget dreamlike visitations
when songless, selfless wonderings
submit their own realities
as substitutes for desire
confining me, a passenger
on a vessel of delusion.



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 poetry has appeared in hundreds of literary magazines, and he has published several chapbooks. A collection of his poetry 'Days of Destruction' was published by Skive Press. Another collection 'Expectations' was published by Rogue Scholars press. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway and toured colleges and outdoor performance venues. He currently lives in New York City.