Poems from "Rigors"
by Gary Beck

 

United We…

 

The pressure on Americans

continues to accelerate

undermining security

until we are so distracted

from the problems of the future

that we neglect the procedures

to ensure a safe tomorrow.

So many threats that affect us:

Covid, hurricanes, Monkey Pox,

wild fires, resurging polio.

The chaos of our politics

prevents agreement, compromise,

leaving voters in confusion

about the real issues we face,

instead demanding we take sides

with one of the disputing groups

rather than cooperating

to achieve vital solutions

to the impending disasters

that will devastate our nation

if we do not join together

and end the dangerous impasse

that will destroy the promised dream.

 

 

 

 

 

Efforts

 

We can’t go back and right the wrongs

once inflicted on others.

What was done in ignorance

can never be rectified

no matter how much we regret

the harm we know we have done.

All we can attempt to do

is try to become better

and continue to do our best

to improve life for everyone

as we atone for misdeeds past.

 

 

 

 

 

Who Will Guard

 

A sane society

wouldn’t let police officers

stand around helplessly

while children were being shot

in a school invasion

by a violent madman.

We cannot feel secure

for the safety of children

when they are in school

if we are not confident

in the dangerous event

of a lunatic intruder

entering the school,

opening fire on students,

while the police do not go in

to protect the children

who can’t defend themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

Victims

 

The hatred that pervades our land

festers like an infected wound,

angry red, ready to erupt

and corrupt our tainted system.

The people who infect us

with the disease of violence

do not care the harm we suffer.

When the collaborating tools

that pervert our democracy

are suddenly revealed to us

they always blame someone else

never the manipulators

who instigate our divisions,

 no longer restrained by reason

in an emotional climate

that devours the security

of the American people

who only want a better life

promised by the Constitution,

whose efforts to labor for it

have been summarily betrayed

by the greedy Lords of Profit

who refused to tolerate

the accumulation of wealth

by the middle and working class

that interferes with the hunger

to accumulate more and more.

 

 

 

 

 

Dwindling

 

In summer I forget

how the change of seasons

affects me differently,

for now that I am old

I suffer from the cold,

my brittle bones ailing

from lower temperature,

my easily chilled body

wears many layers

when I go outdoors.

I cover my legs

with a comforter

when I sit on the couch.

I often day dream

of tropical climes

apprehensive of

the coming ice age.

 

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