The bean eaters

The imagery reinforces imagery filled with nostalgia warmth. "The Bean Eaters" is a poem describing the simple, frugal ritual of eating beans as enacted by an aging Black couple in the 1960s. The first stanza establishes the ritual—"They eat beans mostly"—and the airy, ironic tone with which the speaker discusses the couple's limited means—"Dinner is a casual affair." Brooks ornaments the scene with descriptions of their dinnerware, which she calls "chipware," to communicate its chipped, worn-out state. The poem then moves into more abstract territory in the second stanza, where the speaker comments on the couple's age and the way that they've lived their lives.