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Domestic Strains
Jim and Lolly
married young,
Jim dropped out of school,
got a supervisor's job
in a factory,
made enough money
so they bought a house
at a foreclosure sale
in the South Bronx.
Lolly stayed in school
planning to get a degree
in communications,
worked part-time for a phone company,
trying to make enough money
so Jim could go back to school,
get a college degree
in computer science,
get a good job
so they could afford children.
The factory cut the worker's wages
so they went on strike
and the bosses furloughed Jim,
but promised to bring him back
as soon as the strike ended.
He got a part-time job
in the Hunts Point Market
loading produce on trucks
and Lolly increased her hours
at the phone company.
For a while they managed
to pay most of their bills.
The strike went on for a year,
then the workers gave in
and the bosses brought Jim back.
But two weeks later
they sold the factory
and fired everyone.
Jim went back to the market
and Lolly dropped out of school
until he got a full-time job.
Then Lolly's company
outsourced her department
to India, to save money
and they let her go.
Jim asked for a full-time job
but the market bosses said no.
He and Lolly spent their time
on job search
worrying what to do
when they couldn't pay
health insurance.
After several notices,
the bank foreclosed their house
and they were forced to sell
most of their possessions
so they could afford to move
into a tiny apartment.
They couldn't get other jobs
and had just enough money
for rent, food, utilities,
but health insurance lapsed.
That winter Jim caught the flu,
missed a week of work
and when he returned they fired him.
He couldn't get unemployment insurance
so they ran out of money.
When they couldn't pay utilities
their electricity was shut off
and for a short while
they lived by candlelight,
pretending it was romantic,
until the candles melted.
The landlord wouldn't wait any longer
despite promises to pay soon
and had the sheriff evict them,
putting their possessions on the street.
With no place else to go
they went to a homeless intake center
and slept on the filthy floor
for the next few nights,
until the chilly social worker
deigned to interview them.
She questioned their legitimacy
when they couldn't show their marriage certificate
and insisted they be sent
to separate shelters.
They refused to be parted
and were denied services,
so they had to live on the street.
They hustled cans during the day
redeemed for five cents apiece,
slept in abandoned buildings at night.
It didn't take very long
for this young couple
to look and smell like derelicts,
ignored or scorned by others
while trying to survive
on uncomforting streets,
each day more hope eroded,
bodies wearying
in the struggle to survive,
too tired to even wonder
why they were exiled
from America.
Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director. Published chapbooks include: Remembrance, Origami Condom Press;'The Conquest of Somalia, Cervena Barva Press; The Dance of Hate, Calliope Nerve Media; Material Questions, Silkworms Ink; Dispossessed, Medulla Press, Mutilated Girls, Heavy Hands Ink and Escape to Cyberspace, Writing Knights Press . His poetry collection Days of Destructio' was published by Skive Press; Expectations, Rogue Scholars Press; Dawn in Cities, Winter Goose Publishing; Assault on NatureSongs of a Clerk and Civilized Ways will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His novel Extreme Change was published by Cogwheel Press; Acts of Defiance was published by Artema Press. His collection of short stories, A Glimpse of Youth was published by Sweatshoppe Publications. 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.
Email: Gary Beck
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