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the whistle bows
at the homestead
steel mill
workers begin to leave
the young ones at a trot
the old timers are behind
but they will all meet
at the bar and sip
the iron city beer
and their shoulders
will go down and relax
and they are out of there
in new york city
a half a dozen men and women
dressed in black
with attache cases
with shoulder straps
leave a tall downtown building
and enter the nouveau french cafés
and sip the ten dollar martini
all thinking they are the loneliest
person in the world
and their shoulders go down and relax
and they are out of there
and I am an artist
awake at three a.m.
sipping my herbal tea
getting ready to go to sleep
will be working even
in my dreams
have you been following this
white, black and jew thing
jew black white
black jew white
its weird now
I remember when it was
even weirder
the object is to make sure
that it doesn't get weirder
than the weird we had
before the weird we are
having right now
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.