Thursday, April 18, 2013

Shui Nan Market (a Poem)

  
Won't you come with me this Saturday
To the Shui Nan Market down the way?
It's full of interesting things to see
So grab a bag and follow me.


We'll see colorful T-shirts for ladies and gents
With slogans in English that don't all make sense.
Flat slabs of tofu are spread on a table
Beside packaged snacks with a Chinese label.
 

There are piles of bumpy-skinned chicken parts:
Drumsticks, livers, wings, and hearts!
Or how 'bout a net full of squirming frogs?
You can even find cute little outfits for dogs.


There’s the squeaky honk of the guy on his bike
With the cooler of ice cream - buy some if you like!
Mounds of tomatoes, swirled bright red and green,
More types of mangoes than you've ever seen,


Shiny long eggplants like purple snakes,
Stacks of sticky red bean suncakes.
We can munch free samples of salty fried fish,
Or slivers of squid from a shallow dish.


Corn on the cob’s being boiled in vats;
Fresh garlic sits piled in heaps on big mats.
There are earrings in black velvet cases displayed
Beside smooth round bangles of brown and green jade


Cartoon-shaped pancakes are sold on a stick –
Which Spongebob character will you pick?
There are so many choices and so much to see
So when are you coming to Shui Nan with me?  

2 comments:

raymond said...
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raymond said...

Nice pictures and poem. I lived in Shuinan some 300 meters from the market so it is very familiar. I lived there from 1968 to 1988, also visited the Summer of 2002. Perhaps one day I shall visit Taiwan again!