Dinner is a casual affair.
Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,
Tin flatware.
Two who are Mostly Good.
Two who have lived their day,
But keep on putting on their clothes
And putting things away.
And remembering . . .
Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,
As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that
is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths,
tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.
The poem is about a couple who eat beans. It's a sufficiently important characteristic that Brooks makes it the title. It's the opening words "They eat beans mostly..." Hardly a riveting choice of meal. It's rather bland and unappetising. Difficult to believe that the old pair eat beans so often by choice. There's also a regularity and routine to their meals. This is the characteristic which, given the title choice, apparently defines the old pair. What else do we know about them? They're old, yellow and, given that very long list of objects that closes the poem, hoarders.
No comments:
Post a Comment