Gary Beck - Two Poems

Willy Bosket

Willy Bosket,
the most confined prisoner in America,
may be the monster that the government say he be.
But we only know
what the media want us to know,
that Willy is still alive,
but buried deep, deep, deep
in distant dungeon,
too far removed from scrutiny
to verify his humanity.
If Willy be too bad
to go to work, or school,
or do redeeming social chores,
maybe he should get something worse
than chains, restraints,
deprivations, isolations.
Eligible participants,
employees and residents
of any penal system, anywhere,
could contribute to a contest,
and the winning entry would determine
the fate of Willy.



Two Hotel Songs

I have listened to
this woman
writhing under me,
caught by the agony
of dripping ecstasies.
Her fluid moan
pushes back
the puke green walls
of a cheap hotel
and blinds me to the murmurs
passing through the puke green walls
as the song of our bed
entertains the lonely dwellers
in a drab hotel.
After one love is done
and another is passively lying,
murmurs in the hallway cease
save for creaks and sighing.
The whispering intrusions fade
as all distractions must,
and just the memory remains
of obscene, eavesdropping lust.
We lie there spent and silent,
nothing to be said,
as we listen to the rhythm
of our softly squeaking bed



Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director and worked as an art dealer when he couldn't earn a living in the theater. He has also been a tennis pro, a ditch digger and a salvage diver. Gary Beck is the author of several chapbooks, including: Remembrance (Origami Condom Press), The Conquest of Somalia (Cervena Barva Press), The Dance of Hate (Calliope Nerve Media), Days of Destruction (Skive Press), with two new collections, Mutilated Girls forthcoming from Bedouin Press, and Expectations forthcoming from Rogue Scholars Press. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway and toured colleges and outdoor performance venues. His poetry has appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City.