Eggs and Other Things in Your Basket

From the steps at city hall,
the market square resembles
a tin of sweet wrappers,
brightly striped in sunshine
and glistening in rain.
A walk between the stalls
makes me sea-sick:
I roll down the lurching
incline, a sometime sailor,
bantering with Norwich traders
over fresh fruit, fish and flowers;
exotic spices, eggs and cheese;
candles and wicker baskets;
belts, boots, buckles and shoes.
I follow in the footsteps
of medieval men and women.
“Aryorite?” a familiar greeting
that hasn’t changed in centuries,
brought up-to-date with pop music
blaring from a stall selling CDs.

Kim M. Russell, 11th June 2019

 

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: To market, to market! also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform

Sarah is our host this Tuesday and she wants to go to the market with us. She asks if there’s anything more evocative of a place than its market.  She says that there’s something wonderful about buying a pasty from the woman who baked it; or a punnet of berries from the farmers that grew them; or a taste of cheese by the man who created it, or a smear of chutney from the cook.

Like Sarah, we have a small market in our local town. We also have the famous covered market in Norwich, which I love to visit whenever I go ‘up city’, as they say around here.

Sarah would like us to write poems that convey the feel of the market somehow – the goods on offer, the people selling and buying, the smells, the tastes, the sounds. She tells us to let our poetry run free!

37 thoughts on “Eggs and Other Things in Your Basket”

  1. A market looking like
    “a tin of sweet wrappers,
    brightly striped in sunshine
    and glistening in rain.”
    And then you take me there…..I can almost feel myself, lurching, swivelling my head to see the booths on either side.
    I do love the hustle bustle of a busy market…and sometimes complete with banter about prices, explanations about various strains of one vegetable…
    I’m right there with you!

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  2. How fun to go to your market Kim as it looks so colorful from the photos. I would love to check out: fresh fruit, fish and flowers, and spices. To walk in the same path as medieval folks would make this a historical site as well.

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  4. Ah, the CD stall, no market is complete without it…this brought back memories of markets in London and Dublin, that lack of pretension, I think it is and also the continuity of a tradition..well done!

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    1. I used I love the market in Dublin. There was a small wily market in Navan I liked when I lived there years ago. My friend’s sister worked on a clothes stall there.

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  6. How absolutely wonderful is this! ❤️ I love the detailing in this capture of the market especially; “a tin of sweet wrappers, brightly striped in sunshine and glistening in rain.” 😀

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  9. We’ve got a bunch of local markets in my neck of Penn’s woods too. I love the festive feel of them, which you described well here, with each stall being like a sweet you can unwrap. LOL, you also reminded me how overwhelming the largest of them can be, and that if you sample too many sweets you’re likely to leave with a tummy ache.

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    1. I enjoy all the different sounds and smells on the market, especially the scented candles and incense, but I also like the silversmith’s stall at Norwich market – they make unique jewellery..

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  12. I’ve seen some markets that aren’t very fresh. But for the most part while traveling a stop at the Saturday Market is time well spent. Generally a local good dish too. My favorite is the Borough Market in London. Have you visited it? I like best the cheeses and the German sausages.
    ..

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    1. I do know Borough Market, Jim. My great grandfather once owned a pub on Borough High Street and my mother’s family comes from that side of the Thames. I haven’t been there for many years but my daughter used to go there sometimes.

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  17. What an awesome market. I love all of the details, and especially “Aryorite?” which has been sticking in my head now, and will undoubtedly be the question I ask to every person I see today.

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  18. Very wonderful work! Honest expression shared openly. I am having an existential crisis tonight. I invite you to come visit me, cross my bridge of dreams, and listen to Joni sing like an angel!

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    1. Thank you, Rob. You won’t see much of me over the next week or so but I’ll be back writing and posting after 1st July, just before the dVerse break. I’ll try to drop by to cross you bridge of dreams.

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