Gary Beck, Molecular Distortion

Molecular Distortion

User Quest

Another rainy day.
I sit in internet cave
restless, nervous, frustrated,
surfing different sites,
happy for delights,
on some of the sex apps,
but quickly lose disinterest,
not in the mood.
I tried some streaming shows
and found a movie
about a hot assassin chick
who traveled the world
murdering her targets
in wild, violent ways
and watched the blood flow,
as I killed time.

Ebbing Resource

I watch the tide go in and out
at the East River estuary.
I do not think the river knows
how or why we polluted it,
but as any work of nature
it responds to assault,
so as we kill the river
it kills its dependents
in the water, in the air
and as the fish die out
the birds that feed on them
no longer have a choice
and must beg for food from people.

More and more bodies of water
have become so tainted
that our rivers, seas, oceans
are no longer blue.
We do not understand
that life is connected
to our frail water supply,
while the limited minds
who determine policies,
too dumb to allow repair
of unsafe bridges, unsafe roads,
do not protect our water,
like they don‘t protect our air
and seem to be oblivious
to our diminishing future.

There was no media
when Athens lost
the Peloponnesian War,
at the fall of Rome,
the battle of Hastings,
Charles I lost his head.
Only word of mouth,
parchment, tablets,
(not the IPad, dodo)
public opinion formed
by those in power,
for no one else mattered.
Today we have
world wide news
from BBC, CNN,
China Daily
and national sources,
all spewing misinformation,
I mean information
that may or may not be true.
I don‘t have enough facts
to decide what's fake news
and it doesn‘t help
that reporters
majored in deception,
most not understanding
they dance to the tune
of puppeteers,
who unlike most of us
will do anything
to get what they want,
guiding the media
liberally,
conservatively,
to prepare the public mind
to dutifully believe
the news of the day.

The Perfect War

The remote conflict
in Afghanistan
against the Taliban,
a relentless foe
that will not surrender,
even if we‘re there
another hundred years,
is the ideal enemy
that won‘t make peace
unless they can establish
Sharia law.
Our volunteer army
can try new technology
on the battlefield
without a protest storm
domestically.
This isn‘t Vietnam
with millions of draftees
fighting peasants
and the worst we could do
was to call them commies,
as our massive military
destroyed their country
that they would not surrender.
So keep our forces there.
Let them learn the art
of modern warfare
with little to lose except
ignominious departure,
familiar to Brits, Russkies,
who slunk away before us.

Mental State

Many Americans
refuse vaccinations,
saying: ‘God will protect us,’
‘it impinges on our freedom,’
no rational explanation
in a dumbing-down country
failing to keep up with
the Information Age,
painfully separating
those who can master
the new learning
from those who believe in
trickle-down economics.