Gary Beck- Three Poems

Thought-a-Gram

 

When I was young

I asked myself

how the Founding Fathers

conceived the ideas

that created a nation

based on democracy.

Of course I knew even then

that all men weren't equal

and government of, by, for,

was only for some of us.

Yet now that I am old

I still ask myself

how those rebels

managed to produce

such noble documents,

and frequently wonder

why our recent leaders

are completely incapable

of exalted heights.

I try to be charitable

and remind myself

that film, tv, Youtube,

dilute the quality of expression

by constant bombardment

of visual information

reducing originality,

but am forced to conclude

we now breed lesser men.

 

 

Art Clips

 

Og painted bison on cave walls.

The Pre-Renaissancers depicted saints.

Van Eyck composed exquisite details.

De La Croix presented the heroic.

Then the Impressionists came along,

soft and shimmering,

made it difficult at first

for common folk to grasp,

but they finally caught up

just in time for Kandinsky

to divorce realism.

From that time on

critics intervened

between artist and viewer,

glibly explaining

what we're looking at.

 

 

Chores

 

The sun rises later,

sets earlier,

the days grow cooler.

I take in the patio furniture,

put up the storm windows,

restock the pantry

with cocoa and oatmeal,

get out the down quilt,

put away the t-shirts,

unpack the sweaters,

make sure there's enough firewood,

saddle soap leather boots,

grease the sled runners,

final check that all's ready

for the season of winter,

then sit back in comfy chair,

plug the IPad in the charger,

pick up weighty volume one

of the Decline and Fall

of the Roman Empire,

settle in, content

to await the coming of spring.

 

 

 

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 7 published chapbooks and 2 others accepted for publication. 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 (Winter Goose Publishing). Perceptions and Displays will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press) Acts of Defiance (Artema Press). His short story collection, A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications). 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. He currently lives in New York City