Poetry and tea

Could two things go better together? My region installed some poetry boxes several years ago (in the next city, there were people who complained about the boxes on the lakefront, and I've never quite gotten over that). It was a long time before I knew about it because I don't keep up with local goings-on. 

Early last year, I noticed that there was a very nice (empty) one outside Covington's lovely English Tea Room. I asked a poet-in-the know acquaintance what the deal was, and he said that the person who filled all the boxes was quitting, and did I want the job?

I didn't. It turned out, however, that someone else was in line to take over. One day, I was chatting with an employee at the restaurant, and she said that the box remained empty. She spoke with her boss, then called and told me that--no matter what else was going on--"my boss owns the property, and he said for you to go ahead."

And then we all went into lock-down. Everything changed, the restaurant could operate as an outdoor and take-out facility only, so I decided to wait. I didn't intend to wait almost a year, but that's how it turned out. Today, I visited the tea room and explained the situation to the employee behind the counter. She told me to proceed. 

There was a copy of Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" in the box, so I pushed it back and tossed several copies of my Origami Poems Project microchap, Pandemic Times, plus several copies of three tiny books published by Poetry-for-All.