Tony Beckwith
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The Lockdown Got Me Down

3/17/2023

 

Mesmerized by flickering flames
I'm reminded of people, places, names:
The world I knew before the blight
imposed restrictions overnight
Curbed my social interactions
Interfered with my transactions
Brought my world to a screeching halt
Locked me down and it wasn't my fault

I remember places
and a sea of faces
that were once more familiar than they are today
Now I'm out here once again, feeling my way
Out in a crowd
Out on the town
I must admit the lockdown got me down

We've had a few gatherings at home and out
Excited loved ones clustered about
Hugging and kissing
(That's what's been missing!)
Saying things we couldn't write
in emails during the wretched blight

So yes, I'm back in touch
But not as much as I used to be
The blight changed so many things, you see
And one of them was me


My Email Address Book

2/17/2023

 
My email address book lives in a file
that I edit and update once in a while
The software program lets me delete
any address that becomes obsolete

Some of those dot-com details, however,
will remain in my email address book forever:
Friends and relations who've gone on ahead
to realms where emails are no longer read

I cannot delete them
Don't even try
I just can't bear to say goodbye



Eight Billion

1/7/2023

 

We went forth and multiplied
when we came down from the trees:
hesitant hominids in twos and threes
The air was hot and the earth was dry
The time had come to say goodbye
to our closest cousins, the chimpanzees

We ventured out across the world
hunting and gathering and playing with fire
Honing the talents we would all require
Some made rafts and ruled the waves
Some drew pictures in their caves
for other cavemen to admire

Seeds grown in fertile soil 
yielded what we need to eat  
so we tilled the earth and planted wheat
In time we started drinking wine
when grapes appeared on someone's vine
and friends and neighbors pressed them with their feet

As the eons lumbered by
we paid attention to the sky,
saw constellations move and wondered why,
invented language, mathematics, the wheel,
music, penicillin, and steel
All we had to do was try

So, yes, we've multiplied
Begotten umpteen generations
Human populations
are steadily mounting
Eight billion now, and still counting

Thanksgiving 2022

11/28/2022

 
It's a dream come true
being here with you
at our annual Thanksgiving rendezvous
What have we done this year? What have we said?
What have we written? What have we read?

Some sat on balconies
and watched their evenings, mornings, afternoons
measured out with coffee spoons

Some wandered lonely as a cloud
through rolling meadows and vacant lots
and far-off fields of forget-me-nots

Some chose this time to leave
To make their way towards the light
and go gentle into that good night

Some were focused on the future
with children at their feet
Wondering how they'll manage to make ends meet

Some scribbled, some drafted
Some fiddled, some crafted
Some pushed, some pulled
Some broke away
in search of something to say

But today we take a break from the bustle and the noise
lay down our tools, our weapons, and our toys
to form a circle, you and I
and raise our thanks up to the sky

Lights Out!

10/15/2022

 
 
Where do you go when you turn off the light
and it's dark as a pit in your room?
Do you fantasize about spending the night
in Tutankhamun's tomb?

Are you whisked away to a cool cabaret
where the doorman shakes your hand?
Where you blend with the crowd and mumble out loud
in a language you don't understand

Do the scenes in your dreams seem familiar at first
until you can see that they're not?
Do the characters blur into somebody else
and there's no making sense of the plot?

Do you dream in color or black and white?
Does your poodle turn into a shark?
Are you wondering what to make of your dreams
as you lie there alone in the dark?

And all for what, since they're all forgotten
the moment you open your eyes?
Gone like mirages that vanish at dawn
with nary a word to the wise

But deeper down perhaps there's a reason
we spend so much time in our dreams
For they cleverly show us, again and again
that nothing's as clear as it seems

These Wings We Have To Earn

9/17/2022

 

A poem in a magazine
Presents an unfamiliar scene
So much is new at seventeen
How will you ever learn?

Then someone takes you by the hand
Come on, she says, I'm with the band
And all at once you understand
That you will get your turn

Colored lights flash overhead
Where better angels fear to tread
You feel the music in your head
And watch a candle burn

Morning finds you on the street
Your memories now bittersweet
Asking everyone you meet
How soon will she return?

But love's an art by any light
Not everyone can get it right
It can't be mastered overnight
These wings we have to earn

September 17th, 2022

9/17/2022

 

The World I Knew

7/17/2022

 

These summer days are fleeting
and soon we'll face the fall
Too late to start deleting
the writing on the wall

Unwritten rules provided
a chance for common cause
Those norms are now derided
by louts who flout the laws

The Reds said their vendetta
would not take long to fight
Of course we all knew better
and still no end in sight

Inflation will awaken
extremes we've learned to dread
Democracy is shaken
and hanging by a thread

I wonder where we're going?
These days I feel estranged
Don't trust the seeds we're sowing
The world I knew has changed


 

The Russian Stone

4/15/2022

 

Russia threw a stone into the Ukrainian pond
sending ripples to my doorstep and beyond
Ripples of disbelief, horror, outrage, sorrow
I'll wish it was all a bad dream when I wake up tomorrow

If we don't stop monsters before it's too late
we'll soon have barbarians at the gate
Our myths all tell us we must slay the dragon
but what if that ignites a third world war?
We've seen this all before

And yet the blight of war is already upon us
grimly visible on phone and tablet
Scenes on our screens we can never un-see
recordings we can never forget
Each image binds us to Ukraine in a virtual sense
that fans the flames of our impotence,
inflames our frustration and regret

Here, in my quiet secluded space
far away from that hellish place
I picture Ukrainians in their fields and cities
fighting for their lives
Shattered buildings lying in ruins
Dead bodies lying in the street as grandmothers walk by
holding hankies to their noses
and another poignant chapter closes

I share their ordeal in my mind at least
and bow my saddened head to the east




Words on a Page

3/16/2022

 
Some find heaven in a garden
on their knees with their hands in the soil
Some spend their days in a kitchen
waiting for the kettle to boil

Some like to gamble all night long
wherever the chips may fall
Others play games on a neighborhood field
keeping their eye on the ball

Some feel at home in a grand hotel
with room service day and night
Some find their bliss in a boat on a river
waiting for the fish to bite

Some people choose to withdraw from the world
all alone like the fool on the hill
Others who love getting lost in a crowd
cannot stand sitting perfectly still

Some of us long to be limber and fit
turning cartwheels across the floor
Others prefer to consult crystal balls
to see what the fates have in store

Some are obsessed with their grandfather clocks
and their passion for being on time
And I find my heaven in words on a page
and the pleasure of making them rhyme

<<Previous

    Index

    All
    007
    2017
    A Birthday
    A Box Of Photographs
    A Brick In The Wall
    Absent Friends
    A Change Of Plans
    A Hundred Years Of Fulvio
    A Moment In Time
    A Moment Of Silence
    An Admiral's Fleet
    An Election Reflection
    A New Way Of Giving
    An Ordinary Man
    A Nursery Rhyme For Naia
    A PC Christmas
    A Question Of Age
    Ask Me Why
    At Last!
    At The Beach
    At The Museum
    Autobio-poema
    A Windy Day
    Be Kind
    Bird In A Cage
    Birthday Review
    Breathing Out And In
    Brigitte Bardot
    Cause And Effect
    Chau Donald
    Chicago
    Christmas Poem
    Civil Discourse
    CollarBone Blues
    Common Sense
    Cousins
    Dear Elaine
    Dear Father Christmas
    December In San Miguel
    Donald
    Do Not Disturb
    Edwin's Santa Hat
    Eight Billion
    Elaine
    Email Attachments
    Empires
    Exit Strategy
    Fall/winter
    Family
    Fare Thee Well
    For A Sad Friend
    For Jack
    Fulvio!
    Generation Gap
    Geoffrey Edbrooke RIP
    Going With The Flow
    Happy Birthday
    Happy Gruyere
    Happy New Year 2015
    Happy New Year 2019
    Happy Valentine's Day
    Hard Choices
    Hawaiian Rain
    High School Reunion Trilogy
    Hold On Snoopy
    Home
    Honestly Who Knows
    I Couldn't Get By Without You
    I Fell For You
    If This Were A Movie
    In A Raindrop
    In Memory Of John Haack
    In The Limbo Zone
    In Your Shoes
    I Reach Into The Pool
    It All Starts With Letters
    I Think Of You
    Kids
    La Tristeza De Naia
    Light And Shadows
    Lights Out!
    Like A Foreign Film
    Like A Wolf On The Fold
    Looking At Older Relatives
    Lullaby
    Mad Broccoli Disease
    Make Soup
    Mardie's Farewell
    María!
    Mary Hobart
    Me Acuerdo
    Mendoza
    Midsummer Dream
    Morning Noon And Night
    Mozart
    Multitasking
    Mums The Word
    Music
    My Candle
    My Day Is Done
    My Email Address Book
    My Fallen Heroes
    My Family Tree
    My Favorites
    My School Reunion
    My Train Of Thought
    My Wildest Dreams
    Nameless Dread
    New Orleans
    New Year 2020
    New Year's Eve
    New Years Eve 2013
    New Year's Eve 2018
    New Year's Resolution
    Next Time
    Northern Winter
    No Strings Attached
    No Time
    Obama And The Queen
    Ode To The Road
    Old Friends
    On A Pendulum
    On A Sidewalk Jostling
    Once Upon A Time
    One Thing Leads To Another
    Only Just Begun
    Our New President
    Panama Hat
    Partly Cloudy Skies
    Pink Flamingos
    Please And Thank You
    Pockets / Bolsillos
    Poverty
    Rich
    Road Trip To Mexico
    Ros Campbell
    Rosendo
    Santa Claus
    Seasons Come And Seasons Go
    Silver Linings
    Some Just Like To Complain
    Some Like To Complain
    Something On Your Mind
    Song Of Santa's Reindeer
    Sorry
    Sports Day
    Sunflowers In My Room
    Teachers
    Tell Me A Story
    Thanksgiving 2006
    Thanksgiving 2009
    Thanksgiving 2014
    Thanksgiving 2015
    Thanksgiving 2016
    Thanksgiving 2017
    Thanksgiving 2018
    Thanksgiving 2019
    Thanksgiving 2021
    Thanksgiving 2022
    Thanksgiving In The Time Of Covid
    The Age Of Communication
    The Alley
    The All-You-Can-Stomach Buffet
    The Andes
    The Annual Checkup
    The Crack Of Dawn
    The Dance
    The Earth Is Round
    The Fourth Of July
    The Glacier And The Shooting Star
    The Good Green Earth
    The Immigration Issue
    The Lockdown Got Me Down
    The Lottery Ticket
    The Manger
    The Meltdown
    The Morning Paper
    The Newly Enlightened
    The Ocean Never Sleeps
    The Perks Of The Office
    The Rain
    The Sands Of Time
    These Wings We Have To Earn
    The Simple Things
    The So-Called News
    The Spark Of Happiness
    The Squirrel
    The Sugar Plum Fairy
    The War On Poverty
    The Wedding Of Garrett And Laura
    The World I Knew
    Tonio
    Tony's Law Of Levity
    Too Much Stuff
    Torch Lake
    Turn Back The Clock
    Twenty-Two Valentines
    Un Alfajor Argentino
    Unplugged
    Un Yo-yo Uruguayo
    Up There
    Valentine's Day
    Valentine Video
    Viral Videos
    Weh-Weh And The Children
    What Am I Missing?
    What Are You Doing?
    What Fruit Can Grow?
    What If ?
    What Is Love?
    What's The Hurry?
    What Will I Have Planted?
    When You And I Were Young
    Whimsy
    Who Is Truly Spared
    Words On A Page
    World Cup 2010
    You Never
    You Never Can Tell
    Young And Pretty

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