Electrification of Udelnaya Market
ELECTRIFICATION OF UDELNAYA MARKET
Thank goodness
New glass steel towers are cleaning up the mess
Of Udelnaya market. Traffic was too fast *
Street is pedestrianised and bypassed
Bright lights are lit and a secret lover
Can no longer be met under the dark trees cover.
5:30 pm and the cherry girl is no more
Only her wooden stall and empty boxes at the door
Near the musicians in the street
Still slowly tapping their feet
The off-key folksinger (bit of an alcohol smell)
And the old lady who can sing on key and well.
Chinese tee-shirts selling for 40 roubles in a paper packet
In glass steel shops are 400 (in cellophane jacket).
The knife man is gone, with his machetes, kukris,
Bayonets , hunting knives, switchblades, bowies,
Now it’s a telephone shop
Buy anything with only a five minute stop.
The little café run by the Tadjiks *
Where you’d get real piping-hot shashliks
Is now a computer store
And there’s going to be more.
The steam baths are closed, no hot and cold sprays
And DVD players are on sale there( 20% off always).
Floating up still is a child’s balloon
From the toy stall, to be burst soon -
Spiked to death on the microwave antenna tower
Which delivers such telephonic power.
Traffic thundered past in concentrations
Drowning out conversations
In the tiny kiosk where I used to find
Dresses for my wife - just the right kind.
All this chaos is almost gone (thank goodness)
Muddy in the summer, in winter icy-treacherous.
Steel and glass windows reflect the bright
And penetrating electric light.
5:45 and it’s almost closing time.
…………………………………………………
NOTE
*Udelnaya is a colorful older district in inner St. Petersburg, which had an extensive and hugely interesting market, including all sorts of goods, new and second hand, where a great deal of haggling and general chit chat took place. Now sadly being redeveloped.
*Tadjiks are people from Tadjikistan, one of the former republics in the USSR. Many Tadjiks live and work in St. Petersburg. Their cuisine is exotic and tasty.
Copyright © Sidney Beck | Year Posted 2012
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