Poem – Primary Care (By Gary Beck)

Shattered ambitions

litter the roadside

of expectations,

ignored by parents,

neglected by school,

yet filled with all the yearning

that are youth

made vulnerable,

so when a kind man

paid attention,

told of the blessings of Allah,

the kinship of true believers,

it was an easy task

to reveal the afterlife,

the promise of fulfillment

for servants of Islam

willing to devote themselves

to the destruction

of enemies of the faith,

in a suicide attack

on the hated Americans,

that would guarantee

entry to Paradise.

Author Bio:

‘Temporal Dreams’ is an unpublished poetry collection that reveals our preoccupation with material things, sometimes to excess.

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 11 published chapbooks. His poetry collections include: Days of Destruction (Skive Press), Expectations (Rogue Scholars Press). Dawn in Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways (Winter Goose Publishing). Perceptions, Displays, Fault Lines and Tremors will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. Conditioned Response will be published by Nazar Look. His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press) Acts of Defiance (Artema Press). Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing). His short story collection, A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications). 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