"Dine in Brooklyn," Borough's Answer to Restaurant "Week"

Shared Work - Partly Done

There is a dividing line

at certain au courant dining establishments

most of us never see or witness

That invisible wall of labour

On one side part-time waiters/waitresses

Making extra spending money

subsidizing costs of higher education

Young white men and women mostly

(Yes at Denny's and IHOP Hispanics

now are allowed to await on tables)

All spotlessly clean groomed taking orders

Making small happy talk that they are

soon to improve their social status and position

from what is in their narrow perception

this manual service drudgery

Hardly ever noticing fellow coworkers

Behind the heat lamps of meal pick-up areas

Black and Latino males endure as kitchen help

Sweating in soiled aprons from blood of dead beasts

as they work in fires from ovens and broilers

while washing dishes/pots

Communicating only by yellling "orders up!"

To those they consider far-away

from work-a-day existence where wages buy

another week's room rent and not trips to the movies

as a break from grueling study courses

These kitchen workers watch sometimes with jealous eyes

as others count their tips from ordinary service

Eager moments until slowtime to savor a break

A quick cigarette and to hungrily bite

the fresh empty air and a moment to dream

before returning inside to prep

More meals for both parts of this system's puzzle

Neither side ever really encountering the other.