In nineteen sixty-three, May twenty-eight,
three youngsters in a Woolworths five-and-dime
sat down and asked for coffee. This was war.
In Jackson, Mississippi, way back when,
outrageous things like this riled up the pack.
The photos still exist. You feel the hate.
To ask for coffee, then, was such a crime,
so unacceptable to local law
that men (look at the photos – they’re all men)
could not restrain themselves. Attack, attack!
With ketchup, mustard, butter they went straight
to smear the interlopers with their slime:
what else are coffee-grounds and soda for?
The heroes (in the age of Colonel Glenn,
the Right Stuff mattered) took down from the rack
more gunge. These sons of the Magnolia State
poured vinegar in solemn pantomime
(one wiped molasses on the young man’s jaw).
What caused this ritual? This zoo-like zen?
The guests had the effrontery to be black.
Categories:
woolworths, history,
Form: Rhyme
DO YOU REMEMBER
Do you remember the old drivein show
Where with your girfriend or boyfriend you did go
Hugging and kissing in the front seat there
What the movie was you really didn't care.
And shopping at Woolworths five and dime
A good place to just pass the time
Or off to an A&W where you drove in
Do you remember that was where you had been.
Do you remember the Vaudeville show,
When to the theatre you did go
Oh of so many places I could write about
That would bring back memories I have no doubt.
But that is all for now I'll write
So I'll wish you all good night
Another night I will write if my pen does not go dry
About other Things with memories that will make you laugh or cry.
R. Taub - Poet
April 14, 2015
Categories:
woolworths, memory,
Form: Rhyme
Pick & Mix
Oh Frank. W. Woolworths what have you done,
You have taken away all of the fun.
Buying the traditional Pick & Mix,
Was a yearly ritual like the turkey and stuffing mix,
Trying to cram as many as you could
Into the large cardboard tub.
Trying to be canny
and fill every nook and cranny,
Toffees, chocs, jellies, dolly mixtures, shrimps & white mice,
They all tasted really nice.
It only cost £2 99 for the lot
It was up to you how many you got,
Now it is to be no more
Having asked at several of your stores.
Gone now is the tub you could fill with as many as you like.
It’s A bag and weigh & pay, and on your bike.
Oh Frank. W. Woolworths what have you done,
You have taken away all of the fun.
Categories:
woolworths, fun,
Form: Rhyme
Ok stop nagging and I will tell you
What you about to here is all true
A cleaner was to clean a twenty story hotel
He was to clean the lifts which had a faint smell
So off he went up the stairs to the top
And for four days he cleaned and didn’t stop
The manager was worried and went to look for him
And found the cleaner arriving on floor thirteen
( Ok there isn’t a floor thirteen because its considered bad luck)
The manager complained “What’s taking you so long?”
“This job should have been only an hour hurry along”
The cleaner eyes open wide he look rather sick
He begged the manager “In one hour please show me this trick”
“For I counted forty lifts, two on each floor”
“Sometimes some of them aren’t there, that what I saw”
Well the manager understood that he thought each floor had lifts
Now that cleaner stacks shelves at Woolworths
Categories:
woolworths, funny
Form: Rhyme