Happening 1961
Greenfield said
where you from?
London you replied
I don’t like Londoners
he said as a bee
buzzed in the greenhouse
where the rural science teacher
Gable had sent you.
Greenfield pushed you
against the potting bench
and you pushed him
against begonia plants
which fell to the floor
and he punched
your arm
and you punched
his jaw
and he grabbed you
around the waist
and you both
fell to the floor.
You smelt his sweat
and saw blood
drip from his lips.
Get up you gits
another boy said
Old Gable’s coming
and so you pulled
Greenfield up
by the hand
and he brushed off
your school jacket
and you pushed
your fingers
through your hair
and he wiped blood
from his lips
and in came Gable
and said
what’s happening here?
And why are the begonias
on the floor?
My fault you said
I knocked them
with my elbow
and Greenfield
was going to
pick them up
when he banged his jaw
on the bench by accident.
Gable glared
at you both
and said
well bloody well
pick them up
and clean up the mess
and left.
Greenfield held
his handkerchief
to his lip.
You picked up
the begonias
one by one
and put them
on the bench.
Greenfield put them
tidy and neat
and kicked
the spilt earth
under the bench
with his feet.
Gable’s a toss
Greenfield said
and put out
his hand for
you to shake.
You shook his hand
and smiled
and he laughed
and said
I guess Londoners
aren’t all bad
and the bee buzzed
out the open window
and you watched it go
and was glad.
poem by Terry Collett
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City
Greenfield morning I pushed an empty
Baby carriage all over the city.
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning.
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning.
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning.
Greenfield morning I pushed an empty
Baby carriage all over the city.
song performed by by Yoko Ono
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City
Greenfield morning I pushed an empty
Baby carriage all over the city.
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning.
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning.
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning.
Greenfield morning I pushed an empty
Baby carriage all over the city.
song performed by by Yoko Ono
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Telephone Piece
Greenfield morning I pushed an empty
Baby carriage all over the city
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning,
Greenfield morning
Greenfield morning I pushed an empty
Baby carriage all over the city
song performed by by Yoko Ono
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I guess I harboured hopes that things would happen more quickly, but I'm not disappointed.
quote by Jerry Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
In Washington it is an honor to be disgraced. you have to have been somebody to fall.
quote by Meg Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Business can be a source of progressive change.
quote by Jerry Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Ninety percent of politics is deciding whom to blame.
quote by Meg Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
If you open up the mind, the opportunity to address both profits and social conditions are limitless. It's a process of innovation.
quote by Jerry Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
More things in politics happen by accident or exhaustion than happen by conspiracy.
quote by Jeff Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Everybody's for democracy in principle. It's only in practice that the thing gives rise to stiff objections.
quote by Meg Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I got into television because I hated it so. I thought, there's some way of using this fabulous instrument to be of nurture to those who would watch and listen.
quote by Jeff Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
There was a henpecked Jose – a bailiff.
On a tiff with his wife…climbed a cliff
To commit suicide.
She yelled from her bedside.
Scared he’s back. “Cur! ” she kicked him damn stiff.
[Oct 05,2009: : Greenfield, WI]
quote by by AtreyaSarma Uppaluri
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
We measured our success not just by how much money we made, but by how much we contributed to the community. It was a two-part bottom line.
quote by Jerry Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Somebody is going to have to do fancy footwork to make sure Elizabeth and John Edwards get their prime-time shot .
quote by Jeff Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
There is such a thing as tempting the gods. Talking too much, too soon and with too much self-satisfaction has always seemed to me a sure way to court disaster. The forces of retribution are always listening. They never sleep.
quote by Meg Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Hello, My Name Is Doris
Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Stephen Root, Elizabeth Reaser, Isabella Acres
from Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
If a politician murders his mother, the first response of the press or of his opponents will likely be not that it was a terrible thing to do, but rather that in a statement made six years before he had gone on record as being opposed to matricide.
quote by Meg Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
They Came Together
Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Cobie Smulders, Christopher Meloni, Max Greenfield, Ellie Kemper, Jason Mantzoukas, Ed Helms
from They Came Together (2014)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
“But for films, ” said the upstart actor,
“I’d have, surely, become a doctor.”
Watching the interview
“Your marks hardly a few
For the boast” gibed her truthful proctor.
[Sep 30,2009: : Greenfield, WI]
quote by by AtreyaSarma Uppaluri
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
These people have served a longer sentence than some people who have committed murder.
quote by Jeff Greenfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!