Image: Unsplash, downloaded (https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-leafless-tree-on-brown-field-near-lake-4_uUthBDHUE) 4. 5. 2024.
American River
Depending on the time of day
the river is drab brown, black,
another polluted waterway
courtesy of a people
who don’t seem to care
the once clear blue river
is now so murky
you cannot see
below the tainted surface
that flows and flows
just as it always did,
but now carrying toxins
to the no longer blue sea.
About the Author: 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. 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 and his published books include 40 poetry collections, 16 novels, 4 short story collections, 2 collection of essays and 8 books of plays. Gary lives in New York City.
