The Market

Down the alleys they come
Down the narrow side streets
Down the long highways
All with basket and bag.

Into the crowded square
With its stalls of bright
Canopies; parasols.

Huge pans of yellow rice
Chorizo in red sauce
Chickens roasting on spits.


Smell of the olive stall
Olives in oil stuffed with
Citron sharp and garlic.

Vegetables out on
Long trestles; green of bean
Red tomatoes, melons.

Sausage stalls smelling strong
With strings of white dusty
Sausage, sliced shiny ends.
Man in black smock counts change.

Cheese counter full of flavour
Whiff of Roquefort wafts the
Busy air; throng jostling.

Martin Delemare
7th September 2006