The Bean Eaters
They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.
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.
Like many of her poems, and all but one that I have posted, The Beat Eaters also features a rhyme scheme (ABCB). There is also repetition of the "tw" beginning of words, and an alliteration is present in the phrase "twinklings and twinges." The Bean Eaters is a romantic poem, in my opinion, and an excellent example of how poetry paints pictures that words can't seem to justify on their own. It tells of an honest couple, "this old yellow pair" who live a modest life in their "rented back room." Brooks paints a picture of poverty, yet the love and companionship between the two outweighs this hardship.
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