Diminished Capacity

Automation
scared most people,
afraid they wouldn’t have
sufficient brain power
to operate machinery,
much more complicated
than simple farming.

Then electronics
further separated
those who could master
advanced technology
from those competent
to do basic mechanics,
confused by computers.

Despite leaving the land,
congregating in cities,
evolving faster
than other creatures
in a foreign environment,
we grew bigger, stronger,
but didn’t get smarter.

We thought we were clever
with dazzling inventions
that revolutionized
our way of life,
yet threatened to destroy
the Nature that nurtured us
with endless waste and toxins.

Genetically committed
to the historical urge
of an ongoing arms race,
we upped the scale of destruction
with proliferation
of nuclear weapons,
eager to create mutants.

Not enough of us
seem to realize
we are on the brink
of eliminating the home
that sustains the human race
a peculiar species
that may be worthy of survival.

By Gary Beck

Biography:

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). Resonance (Dreaming Big Publications). His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press) and Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing). Call to Valor (Gnome on Pigs Productions). Acts of Defiance will be published by Dreaming Big Publications. 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.