Poem – Limits (By Gary Beck)

Limits

 

You promised

in front of a priest

to love, honor, cherish.

Then you started gambling,

 

When you lost

you started drinking.

The more you lost,

the more you drank.

 

You came home drunk,

yelled and cursed at me.

I had to help you to bed,

but you hit me.

 

Then you started beating me.

I begged you to stop,

but you said: ‘It was my fault’.

 

I talked to my priest,

but he counseled patience.

 

The other night you hit me so hard

I had to go to the hospital.

You promised never again.

 

When I came home you cursed me

for not preparing dinner.

I have nowhere else to go,

but I can’t go on this way.

 

If you hit me again,

I’ll wait until you’re asleep,

take a kitchen knife

and stab you in the heart.

 

Author Bio:

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 and 3 more accepted for publication. 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, Displays, Perceptions & Fault Lines (Winter Goose Publishing). Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. Conditioned Response (Nazar Look). Resonance (Dreaming Big Publications). His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press), Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing) and Call to Valor (Gnome on Pigs Productions). Sudden Conflicts will be published by Lillicat Publishers and State of Rage by Rainy Day Reads Publishing. His short story collection, A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications). Now I Accuse and other stories will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. 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.