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walking west on fourth street
and as I hit Washington square east
I notice people running and screaming
in all directions
and as they clear
I see a man dazed holding his neck
with blood beating out with a beat
he looks up and says, is this bad
I sit him down against the N.Y.U. Wall
I pull off one of his sleeves
wrap it around his neck and say pull tight
then I dial 911 and tell the operator
exactly what happened and exactly where we are
2 minutes later the sound of the sirens rise
but there is a full stop sign on the corner
and half a dozen cars in front of the ambulance
so I hit the street and tell them, take a left
take a left, a campus guard comes and takes over
and EMS does its thing
then I continue to walk west on fourth street
a little shook
and from time to time I get a chance to test
my poetry on the anvil of action
all this talk about the twenty first century
and all this heavy dipping into the 19th
with a cruel cavalier attitude
I remember when those black and white limousines
started slowly sleeking down my city streets
with the license plates that said
we have it and you don't
and the tinted windows
so that I could not see you
but I see you, I see you
like some domesticated animal
who is either afraid, unaware unable
to return to its original habitat
and that goes for the rest of us
bursting our dreams with nightmares
because we are all like babe ruth
pointing to right field
all we need is a pitch
we will even take a spitball
and like stan the man musial said
we will just try and hit the dry side
Steve Ben Israel made his debut in the late 50s as a comedian in the "Greenwich Village Coffee House Renaissance," working alongside Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, Lou Gosset, Jr. and Peter Paul and Mary. In 1961 he appeared in the Theater de Lys production of Threepenny Opera. From 1962 to 1976 he toured the world with the Living Theatre, with which he played in the streets of Brazil, Brookyn and Pittsburgh. In the late 70s, Steve returned to comedy with his first one-man show, Nostalgic for the Future. In the last 20 years he has performed a number of one-man shows including his current show, Nonviolent Executions. Steve can be heard on NPR. He received a 2007 Obie award for work in the theatre.