Poems
by Gary Beck

 

Stay Awake

 

I work five days a week

at the supermarket.

Friday night,

Saturday and Sunday days

at a fast food place.

It’s not fun,

but it pays my way

through college.

 

I study pharmacy

and take your orders

until I graduate

get a good job,

dispense your medications.

 

I’m always tired.

Some late nights

on the way home from school

I fall asleep on the subway.

One night I woke up

in the dead train house.

It was scary

and won’t happen again,

but I won’t forget the first time.

 

A lot of people at school

complain about the late hours,

the demand on their time,

the tests, the homework,

just being there at night.

 

When I started

I tried to tell them

we’re lucky to be here.

They didn’t want to hear it. Said:

‘Mind your own business.’

‘Who are you to tell us anything?’

‘Get rid of your accent.’

I don’t bother anymore.

 

Sometimes I wonder

why they don’t see

this is a difficult country

unless you have

someone to help you.

 

There are only three ways

in America

for advancement;

sports, crime, education.

I’m too old for sports,

don’t want to go to prison,

so I go to school.

 

I’ll make my way

in an unfair system

that only lets

some succeed,

but its still better

then other lands

with less opportunity,

more intolerance.

 

Sometimes I forget

when it’s late at night

and I fall into bed

exhausted,

why I go through so much,

but always remember

as I get up in the morning

good times are coming.

 

 

 

 

Ode to Mike Pence

 

January 6,
should be proclaimed
Mike Pence day,
since he did his duty
to America
despite threats

to the people,
to the constitution,
when some say
peaceful tourists,
others say
insurrectionists,
invaded the Capitol Building,
our seat of government,
to prevent
certification of the election
the democratic mechanism
for the peaceful transfer of power.

 

The Vice President's service
to a fragile republic
should not be forgotten
for he was a hero
on a day that endangered
the future of democracy
that could have been one of infamy,
as the police and military
did not respond
to the disruption of stability,
but Pence fulfilled his obligation
to the future of the nation.

 

 

 

 

The Hospital

 

Once again

I’m in the hospital

with no idea

what’s wrong.

I fear the worst,

cancer,

but I do not know.

The doctors

are not reassuring.

They all look tired.

Post Covid effect,

but they still have to treat

patients.

They will make

all kinds of

tests.

I hope they won’t

cut me,

but I’m in their hands

whether I trust them

or not.

I can only hope

it won’t be as bad

as my fears.

 

 

 

 

 

Upreach

 

You stand without leaves

mostly ignored by passersby,

             winter tree,

              eloquent limbs

stretching for sunlight,

             waiting patiently

for leaves to bud

for Spring concealment

from intrusive eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

An Odyssey

 

I kept forgetting

the name of the street

where I lived in the Bronx.

Mama and I didn’t leave home

for a life of adventure.

We were transported

in a dirty bus

that smelled of bad things

to we knew not where.

 

After a long, bumpy ride

across a great big bridge

through a foreign country

we were deposited

at a welfare hotel.

The place was unwelcoming.

Bad scary men sat on the steps,

almost naked women

paraded on the sidewalk

stopping passing cars.

 

I later learned these people

were urban professors

of drug dealing, prostitution,

robbery and violence,

willing to share their lore

in pimping and dealing

with innocent young children,

offspring of poverty

exiled to horror hotel

by a cruel society.

 

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