Winter Market
- Publication: Alchemy
- Year: 2025
- Author or artist: Kati Kim (Alchemy Editor)
- Type: Poem
Bundled browsers sip sweet bitter brew, scents of smoke and chocolate,
crowds sample speared slices of crisp pink spheres, stored since September,
feathery fronds of fragrant foliage fill bins and bags and carts and bellies.
Bright red bunches of swollen roots, celadon stacks of threaded stalks,
variegated hibernal venation, gleaming white tap roots, purple petioles,
paper-wrapped bulbs contain sulfurous layers, destined for sautéed silkiness.
Foraged forest treasures, tube-shaped and dome-capped, soft-toothed and earthy,
sealed plastic packets of sea life and ruminants, stored in ice-packed coolers,
clear glass jars filled with bubbling ferments, salted cabbage and peppers.
Lines form for eggs and chiles and cured meats wrapped in hot blistered shells,
casings stuffed with fatty ground meats and aromatics, sizzling on blackened grates,
flakey baked layers of flour and butter, piped full of fruits and sweetened cream.
Babies in fancy strollers, dogs in quilted vests, old ladies in plastic raincoats,
students with tattoos, chefs with soft-sided wagons, peddler of painted rocks,
honeys huddle on slightly damp wooden slat benches, taking it all in.