Poems By Gary Beck

Poems By Gary Beck

Parasites

Politicians don't gargle
to remove the taste
of speeches of deception
designed by cunning craftsmen,
because it's part of the job
to deceive the people.
They have personal contracts
that further special interests
heavily invested
in acquired legislators,
purchased at bargain prices
for mutual benefits
that exclude the public
from vital services,
no longer affordable
since available funds
were already expended
by elected officials.

Chain Reaction

Citizen X lost his job.
Citizen Y lost her home.
Their children are hungry,
but no one seems to care.
Dumb or greedy bankers
lost billions of dollars,
and officials rushed to replace
the squandered money,
while bankers rewarded themselves
for their colossal failure.
Citizen X has no job.
Citizen Y has no home.
Their children are still hungry,
yet no one seems to care
to adjust the imbalance.

Ethics and Morality

Many legislators
who should serve the people
avoid their duty,
grossly preempted
by special interests
preoccupied with profit,
avoiding obligations
to a struggling nation.
The few who attempt
to do the right thing
are often tempted
by seductive appeals
to concealed appetites
that allows them
to forget their duty.

The Public Trust

Political parties
with their own agendas
often conflict
with the common good,
since their priority
is reelection
of representatives,
whose primary loyalty
is to their benefactors,
not the needs of the people.

Pernicious Abuses

Ignorant investors
forced to rely on others
for financial improvement
are always at the mercy
of unscrupulous advisors
who place their interests
before the needs
of those who trust them.
Bankers, brokers, consultants,
insure that they will flourish
despite market downturns
that wipe out the savings
of the greedy, or gullible,
future prospects deceived
in the great recession.

Gary Beck has spent most of his life as a theater director and currently lives in New York City.  His poetry and fiction has appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He has many publications to his credit including Remembrance, The Conquest of Somalia, The Dance of Hate, Material Questions, Dispossessed, Mutilated Girls, Pavan and other poems, and Iraq Monologues to mention a few. His novel and many other collections are soon to come out.