Thank You for Busboys

Karen Kenworthy

There was giving
in inverse proportion
that day when I made sure
I would consciously do two
loving acts

My actions were smaller than I had
Envisioned

First I sipped every spoonful…
my tomato soup as warm
and spicy as
the panel presentation
I listened to while eating
at my adored
cafe/bookstore and community gathering place
“Busboys and Poets”

Owned by Andy Shallal
man of pure heart

man of Iraqi heritage here in DC
to change the world to love…
and to bring us together in diversity
and he is changing D.C.

His place on 14th and V
Is where I eat
read
and attend lectures and events
as if I were back at university

I am neither a busboy
nor a poet now

I dabble in poetry indulgently
And I did bus my own tables
at Gifford’s Ice Cream parlor
at eighteen with stains
covering my uniform
and so privileged and so unaware

Then came my first glimmer of class and labor awareness when
the oldest waitress
from whom I learned…
a single mother of two…
didn’t go out partying
with the rest of us

we spent our tip money
socializing after work
she needed hers for food
for her kids
and rent for her trailer
Her name is ingrained
still in my soul
Charlotte…

and how I blushed when she said
I was a good waitress
when it was her profession
and in the following
forty- three years
I have never forgotten
her hard life and her lessons
which become always stronger
in my consciousness

Lessons in my face
profound as the class in urban sociology
I later took at university

On my day of giving two acts
when I listened to a panel
on student activism
on campuses
I kept watching my waiter
and gave him
a much larger tip
than I normally would have

And my second giving act
was to look at every person
I passed
– really look –
to see
if there was anything they looked like
they needed from me somehow
and I warmed to the young man
sitting alone beside me at Busboys
and we talked about his
theories
and I counted that
as my second act

And what a pittance of giving
in contrast to what I was given
in a day of
inverse equation

Have a poem you would like shared on our blog? E-mail feedback@busboysandpoets.com. Selected poems will be published.

PHOTO 2024 02 01 07 10 14

For Langston Hughes on His 123 Birthday

Speech given on February 1, 2024 in Havana, Cuba In 1927 Langston Hughes walked into a Cuba amid an emerging community of artists, intellectuals, and radicals.  He saw a “sunrise in a new land [– a day – in his words]sic – full of brownskin surprises, and hitherto unknown contacts in a world of color.”  … Continued

PALESTINE WEEK 1920 x 1080 px 2

Palestine Week 2024

January 18, 2024 – January 25, 2024 In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 through January 25, 2024). This week-long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions, and other enriching events. … Continued

Busboys and Poets Books Review: Jim Brown, Last Man Standing

Busboys and Poets Books Review: Jim Brown, Last Man Standing

In clear, fluid prose, Dave Zirin chronicles the life of legendary Cleveland Browns running back, Jim Brown, from his childhood in St. Simons Island, Georgia, raised by three women, through his NFL and Hollywood acting careers, to his cultural impact as a Black Power icon in the 1960s and beyond. Zirin reveals a complicated picture … Continued

What to read: Celebrating National Poetry Month at Busboys and Poets

What to read: Celebrating National Poetry Month at Busboys and Poets

April in DC – a time to welcome the sun, greet the cherry blossoms and relish the city’s many parks in bloom. April is also National Poetry Month, and being home to a vibrant literary community, DC celebrates every year with a diverse offering of events, readings and books to savor. Here at Busboys and … Continued

andy

Calling All Southeast DC Artists!

We’re amping up to open the doors of Busboys and Poets Anacostia and are seeking southeast DC resident artists for a mural or mural commission! Sound like something you’re interested in? Submit an email of interest along with five to seven sample images of your work to art@busboysandpoets.com by January 25, 2019. Artists will be … Continued

9. The Art Factory (Fabrica De Arte Cubano)

Reflections from the Busboys and Poets Travel Tribe’s Cultural Exchange trip to Cuba (July 6-13, 2022)  Of all the places I visited in Cuba. Of all the events. The panels. The museums. The sights and sounds. The Fabrica De Arte Cubano (aka Fabrica) stands out. An old repurposed oil factory. Transformed into a multi level. … Continued