Beetlebung and Kettlehole--April Poems

At the Grand Bazaar

(The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, with 61 covered streets and over 4000 shops, is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world.)


Thin pastry so crispy
stuffed with cheese
and aroma so fine
the vendor called it borek
while uttering what I suspect
was a rhymed sales pitch
right outside the gate
of the Grand Bazaar
with domed roofs and
many alleyways
where hassling is a must.

And I might have insulted the
merchant when I paid
the exact amount he asked
for gilded harem slippers
because he said, chuckling,
he just reduced the price
for my pretty face,
thus, braving the hassling for me
this amateur clown
with a happy darkness
steady in ribaldry
confusing the seller with the buyer.
as if his trade were some child’s play.

Now, I sit still and nudge that memory
out of decades to find
under the splendor of ancient façades
many a nameless face
mimicking court jesters
with an off-beat marketing style
for in that antique bazaar where,
crafted in cartoonish surprise,
my true stories were born.

----------

Prompt: April 9—market