Author: Gary Beck

Source: https://www.polseguera.com/writers/writing-740_discoveries.html


Discoveries

Gary Beck/Discoveries

 

Strange Surroundings

I have always lived

in alien enclaves.

never taking root

no matter how long I stayed

in one place

long enough to belong,

my distance from others

engraved in my soul,

that for some reason,

cause, curse, inheritance,

coincidental as existence

I am as temporary

as a gust of wind,

though I move slowly enough

that I don’t blow away,

in an instant.

 

I began

like so many others

without knowledge, experience,

just need

urgent appetite

to be fed, held, soothed

in the strange new world,

having been abruptly removed

from conception chamber

where all needs

were gratified

without thought, question,

everything flowed

as I wanted,

warm, comfortable, secure.

 

Then disruption.

Demands to vacate the premises

I resisted with all my might,

not wanting to leave

home.

Intrusive hands

forced me out,

yanked me into the cold,

wrapped me in garments,

but it wasn’t the same,

put me on someone’s warmth

but it wasn’t the same,

There was nothing else

and for the moment

my ordeal was over.

I slept.

 

For many years

I worked and gave of my soul

to homeless families with children,

most of them surgically removed

from the rest of society,

placed in isolated hotels

in unwelcoming neighborhoods,

identities horribly subtracted

by callous government agencies,

abandoned by those who should help

who escape responsibility

because the homeless are transformed

into non-citizens,

arbitrarily deprived of their rights,

more vulnerable then most of us,

and the children feel the disconnect

between them and humanity.

 

 

After Decline

Life has become so complex

in the good old U.S.A.

that the average citizen

can no longer understand

the issues that divide us.

Just as we get a handle

on the biggest current problems,

Covid-19, immigration,

shutdown of the government,

disasters suddenly happen,

wild fires, floods, hurricanes,

further eroding the fabric

of a struggling society

slowly being overwhelmed

by the conflicting demands

to maintain our fraying country.

 

 

Whose Country is it?

I

Is America crazier

than in the past?

Was anything crazier

than the Civil War?

Americans killing Americans

for who would rule the country,

Northern Industrial Magnates

or Southern Agricultural barons?

 

And many of the men were told

they were fighting about slavery,

even though it affected few of them.

Were we more moral then?

Dumber? Definitely Not!

More gullible? Maybe.

Information was different then

It moved slowly

from points of origin,

without video, audio,

just the printed word,

black and white illustrations.

 

II

Not many protested the Spanish-American War

when we stole a senor empire

from an attenuated European power

and moved onto the world stage

with the ‘Great White Fleet’

sailing the seven seas,

announcing to the old empires

a new player in the game,

not reluctant to project power,

snatch Hawaii, then Guam

declaring to Pacific nations,

’we’re here to stay.’

 

III

Teddy mediated the Russo-Japanese War

that furthered Russian resentment of us

and birthed Japanese hatred

when we didn’t give them enough

for defeating the moldy Russian bear.

But our leaders learned enough

to build a bigger role

in international affairs,

even though we didn’t always know

what we were doing

and were often outsmarted

by the European old dogs.

 

IV

So World War I went on

and on and we finally intervened,

turned the tide against weary Germany,

then were completely outmaneuvered

after the armistice was declared

by the cunning French,

the ruthless British

and got little from the settlement,

but started the League of Nations,

an impotent body that couldn’t compel

anyone from rivaling anyone else,

couldn’t alleviate suffering,

couldn’t prevent war,

poverty, hunger, disease,

the ills that beset the world.

 

V

The Great Depression struck most of us,

except those wealthy enough

to survive all disasters

and they profited mightily,

feasting in splendor

while millions dined at soup kitchens.

Yet unbeknownst to the public

a mighty empire was stirring,

getting richer, more powerful,

ready to replace tired empires

once the aggressors

were totally defeated

and we inherited the Earth.

 

 

Innovation

We have been trained to accept

the marvels of technology,

camping out in rain or snow

for the latest IPhone, IPad,

following social media

that subtlety or brazenly

assaults the minds of our youngsters,

mostly hidden from adults,

manipulated by tv,

absorbed by FOX News, CNN,

too busy to monitor kids

separated from parents,

another alienated group

further shattering the family,

the fundamental unit

that maintains civilization,

arbitrarily altered

for the comfort and convenience

of the exploitative 1%.

 

Discoveries is an unpublished poetry collection that reveals some of the problems that beset us in this difficult life.