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Bazaar

Posted by Ewan on June 20, 2009 - 10:34
from the ABC set

'Jaeed Jidan, Sadiqui,' he approved
my choice of tat from his cluttered stand.
A cat-in-a-bag or muezzin-call alarm
clock. I flinched as he grabbed my hand.
'Dinarain, takallamti', but he hadn't.
The price was one Bahraini dinar:
I gave it to him and was released
and returned -with clock or cat- to the car
with the wonky taxi sign and
a henna-bearded loon took me back
through the bazaar and neon Bank signs,
into civilisation, through the crack
that was Mana'ama highway.

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Comments

boromir | June 20, 2009 - 11:21

Having been to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul I think you've captured atmosphere nicely. The tour guide let us loose on our own saying the sellers will accept any currency - Sterling, Dollars, Drachma... (but as we soon found out, not a Royal Bank of Scotland tenner!)

Ewan | June 21, 2009 - 11:21

Of course, it should probably be entitled 'souk', this piece, really. Still, I love the sound of Bazaar and of course the echoes of 'bizarre' it sets off in my head.

Thanks for reading.
Ewan