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 (Winter Goose Publishing), Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order will be published by Winter Goose Publishing, Conditioned Response (Nazar Look), and Resonance (Dreaming Big Publications). His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press), Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing), and Call to Valor (Gnome on Pigs Productions). Acts of Defiance will be published by Dreaming Big Publications, Sudden Conflicts 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.
Trigger Warning
I graduated from college
in debt for student loans,
no friends to help me on my way,
no job opportunities.
My prospects were bleak.
I filled out job applications,
lied about where I worked,
various skills, experience,
to make me employable,
‘but no one would hire me.
I lied to the landlord
about getting him the rent.
I lied to the utility company,
but they heard it all before
and shut off the power
leaving me in darkness.
I’m just about out of food
and help is not on the way.
I won’t kill myself,
so my only choice
is to become a thief.
I’m healthy, fit and strong,
smart, well educated,
even personable.
I can learn quickly.
All I have to do
is decide what kind of crook
I want to be.