Hazel On the Edge
Dunne watches as Hazel unpins her hair.
She can see her facial expression in the
Dressing table mirror. I usually do that,
Dunne says. I thought you’d like a break
From being my maid, Hazel replies, catching
Dunne’s eyes. Dunne fiddles with her fingers,
Stares back at her mistress’s reflection. She
Notices Hazel’s smile. I feel useless if I don’t
Do anything, Dunne says. Hazel turns around
And says, you are never useless to me. They
Look at each other as if time had stopped.
Hazel seems on the edge of a chasm. She
Wants to put her arms around Dunne and
Draw her close to her. She just stands feeling
A falling sensation. Dunne looks away and says,
Did you want me to prepare a bath for you?
Hazel breathes in slowly. Calm, she tells herself.
Dunne goes to the window to peer out onto
The Parisian street below. Hazel moves up
Behind Dunne. She looks at Dunne’s hair,
The slope of shoulders, the smell of scent
She’d given her. Yes, Hazel says, a bath would
Be welcome after such a busy day sightseeing.
Dunne turns and smiles. Hazel is on the brink
Of putting out a hand to touch Dunne’s cheek.
She holds her hands by her side. Dunne moves
Off and out of the room to prepare a bath in
The bathroom next door. Hazel sighs. So close.
So near. She holds onto the scent of Dunne.
She senses things fall away: prejudices, class,
Manners, mores; feels her emotions flood her
Mind. Love, all love, Father used to say, is blind.
poem by Terry Collett
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Related quotes
Kenton Comes to Tea
Kenton comes to tea.
Dunne serves at table.
Kenton knew Hazel
even as a child.
Her late father's friend
watches Dunne pour tea
into his teacup.
Your dear father's death
was quite sudden he says.
We were in Paris
touring when news came
Hazel says softly.
Who was the other?
Kenton asks Hazel.
Dunne here my maid came.
Oh I see he says
gazing at Dunne's thighs
hidden behind cloth.
He was a good man
Kenton says firmly
I've known him for years.
Dunne wants to refute
but remains silent.
Her master's abuse
of her sexually
remains in her mind.
Hazel looks at Dunne
she knows the secrets
knew her father's deeds.
Kenton rattles on.
Hazel remembers
her months in Paris
with Dunne at her side.
Art and galleries.
Cafes on corners
smoking and drinking.
Talking and laughing.
Both of them bathing
always together
touching and feeling
kissing and holding
in one bed at night.
Dunne slices the cake
pours Hazel's black tea
her blue eyes searching.
Kenton eats his cake
talks between mouthfuls
spluttering small crumbs.
Dunne studies Hazel
her eyes undressing
her tongue like a snail
moves slowly between
her mistress's thighs
her hands embracing
the smooth naked skin
in her memory.
Hazel looks away
the room is so warm.
She knows that soft stare
sexual and hot
and she whispering
more of that don't stop
scratching through the air.
Dunne hears her and smiles
pours Kenton more tea.
He is unaware there's love in the air.
poem by Terry Collett
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Dunne Studying.
Dunne watches her mistress sleep.
There is the flickering of the eyelids
As if in dream. She gets out of bed
And with soft tread walks to her
Mistress’s bed side and looks down.
She holds her breath. She takes in
Each aspect of the face and neck
And how the hair is spread upon
The pillow. She wants to lean down
And kiss the lips, put flesh to flesh.
She hovers like some hawk waiting
To fly down and take her fine prey.
She breathes out slowly. She watches
The rise and fall of her mistress’s breast.
She moves out a hand to lay it there
But does not touch. She imagines so.
Imagines also climbing into the bed
And snuggling up close and kissing
The nape of neck. Her hand lingers
Over the breasts. Her eyes greedily
Study the soft cheek. She breathes
In deep. Her heart pounds within her
Breast. So near so near. She imagines
Lying within those arms and feeling
The hands caress her back. Her mistress
Stirs and she moves away. Walks back
To her own bed to await the light of day.
poem by Terry Collett
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So being two different people in one day unnerved me to no end.
quote by Irene Dunne
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I only got to be able to act, because I gave myself a job as a producer.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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Don't jump on a man unless he is down.
quote by Finley Peter Dunne
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There is no fence nor hedge round time that is gone. You can go back and have what you like of it if you can remember.
quote by Philip Dunne
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I'm in five guilds; that's a lot of dues to pay. So I have to keep on working.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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I met Steve McQueen once. Well, met isn't really the right word.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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The past always looks better than it was. It's only pleasant because it isn't here.
quote by Finley Peter Dunne
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You see I found I didn't have to act to be happy.
quote by Irene Dunne
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Trust everybody, but cut the cards.
quote by Finley Peter Dunne
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I've always been schizophrenic; I've never been interested in limiting myself.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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I always believed in my characters. I lived them.
quote by Irene Dunne
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I produced six movies with Amy Robinson since the very early '80s.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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On every movie I've done as a director, I look at the producers and having done it, I don't envy them, at all.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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And yet I think The White Cliffs of Dover one of my best films.
quote by Irene Dunne
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Every movie is wildly different. So many of the problems are the same, but they take on different guises.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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I'll leave the swearing to the Jane Fondas.
quote by Irene Dunne
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I came to New York to be an actor and I became a film producer first.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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Documentaries have always inspired me in narrative filmmaking.
quote by Griffin Dunne
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