Shelley Berman
\ndid not want
\nhis plane to land
\nan hour early
\nagainst the side of a mountain.
\n(audience giggles here)
\nI remember
\nthe sense of escape
\nlike a near miss
\nwhen he delivered that line.<\/p>\n
The holiday trip interrupted
\nby the unexpected fame
\nof an unexpected flameout.<\/p>\n
Live, on Network Television
\nwe watched a civilization
\ncollapse into rising astonishing clouds.<\/p>\n
Just as we watched
\nthe Berlin Wall fall
\nto pickaxes
\nand sled hammers
\nand joy.<\/p>\n
Just as we watched Hussein’s
\nmetal head roll off
\nhis toppled metal carcass.<\/p>\n
Just as we watched Mussolini
\nand his woman dragged
\ndead through the streets of Rome.<\/p>\n
We could just go on and on:
\neverybody’s tragedy is
\nsomebody’s dream come true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shelley Berman did not want his plane to land an hour early against the side of a mountain. (audience giggles here) I remember the sense of escape like a near miss when he delivered that line. The holiday trip interrupted … Continue reading