HARD TIMES
The worried murmurs
of small farmers
fearful that loss of land
will leave them rusting in their silos,
does not pierce the void
between those in need
and those with plenty,
and bring consoling replies,
when desperate cries
are asphyxiated by agribusiness,
no longer requiring
tillers of the soil.
Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director, and as an art dealer when he couldn’t make a living in theater. He has 12 published chapbooks. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City.