Warning: Pack lightly when traveling abroad. Leave ethnocentrism at home.
Cultural biased cataracts blur the view of many.
Come walk with me in Busan,
savoring South Korea’s largest fish market.
My eyes espy wriggling, clinging, squid and octopi.
Cartiliaginous skates with long dead eyes,
phallic shaped Gaebuls beside sea worms,
long slithering swarm-swimming eels.
I jerk back reflexively
as red knobby sea pineapple
squeezed slightly by seller,
shoots its swallowed water at me.
So many live fish, tank after tank,
humongous to small.
Dried. Pickled.
Crustaceons. Amphibians too.
Offered sannakji to eat,
small “baby” octopus barely chopped,
some not.
Dipped in sesame oil, swallowed like that.
I would feel them
squirm down my throat.
I remind myself silently –
Things are not better. Things are not worse.
They’re just different.
Then politely I simply say,
no thank you
and smile . . .
and stroll away.
Sarah hosts Poetics today at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. She tells us about her love for visiting markets – especially when on holiday. It’s something we always do when visiting another country…..visit markets and grocery stores. It’s always so very interesting to experience culinary culture. And yes, Sarah wants us to go to market today!
Photos from our April trip where we did indeed visit the amazing fish market in Bousan. Over 500 booths — so many kinds of sea creatures!!!
lillian the home poet 
Things are just different indeed. Lots of detail in this.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ah yes…..a list poem of sorts. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just different… and whatever you say. if it wriggles a bit you know it must be fresh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmmm….well you may dine on that morsel, my friend. Wriggling in the tank, the pan, landing it while fishing….all okay. But I don’t even care for sushi so really smiled politely and said “no thank you” on this S. Korean speciality. But very very interesting to learn about it. It’s all in what you grow up with and are used to. Acculturation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have been to this kind of market and its a really a culinary experience. I love how fresh you can buy these stuff, right off the sea or the boats.
Love the details Lillian and having grown up in Asia, I know how different this may look. But some are delicious when cooked. The photos are wonderful too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Grace. We spent at least a full hour there, wandering up and down the long aisles. I was glad I had rubber soled shoes….and it was just as fun to watch the people buying, checking out which one they picked, watching the sampling too! It was a marvelous excursion!
LikeLike
Your travels are a rich source of inspiration, Lill, and I so enjoy reading about those faraway places, and looking at the photographs you’ve taken. Your poem is so packed with fish I can almost smell that market! I love the use of alliteration in the ‘long slithering swarm-swimming eel’ and the surprise in the stanza about the sea pineapple. I’m not sure if I could cope with baby octopus squirming down my throat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you enjoyed, Kim. And yes…..that’s why I politely declined the offer to dine on that wriggling sea creature. It truly is all in what you’re accustomed to…and whether you’re willing to try something really new. We did eat some seafood for the first time…but it was all cooked. I don’t really even care for sushi. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I can feel this, leaves me all sort of squirmy.
LikeLike
I have not been to that part of the world with such a diverse and interesting a market place. Most of what you describe is visual, were there any sounds, or smells that were interesting too? Thank you for taking me to the market place with you. I too would have walk away….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Surprisingly no sounds except an occasional splash if a large fish was plopped back into a tank. I though for sure it would smell….but nope. Wide open walls inside this huge huge warehouse like place. An amazing place to see!
LikeLike
This is so vivid, Lilian, I can smell the fish!, love the alliteration in this:
“I jerk back reflexively
as red knobby sea pineapple
squeezed slightly by seller,
shoots its swallowed water at me”
Lots of music in the language throughout the poem..well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! So very glad you enjoyed. It was quite an amazing place to visit!
LikeLike
Interesting in a clinical way for me, with good photography.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My taste buds can’t handle anything quite that exotic, but I really like the imagery here. You make it seem so real
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh it was very very real…..I never saw so many sea creatures and some of them just very odd looking or slimy or slithery!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perhaps, as a poet, and world traveler, you should write a book, illustrated with your photos. No one picks up the flavor of faraway places like a poet. You really blew my socks off with this one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hah! Well you’d definitely need socks and closed toed shoes, preferably with rubber soles, walking through this fish market! 🙂
LikeLike
I could almost feel the squirming of the fresh fish. I read your comment above that it didn’t smell fishy. My mind kept thinking it would smell. I would have to say no, thank you in a very polite manner. I cannot even eat sushi, I did, however, try it once.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah…we are sympatico Truedessa….I do not care for sushi either. My daughter always says, well then have the vegetable sushi….and I always say, “Well…what’s the point? I can just eat a salad!” 🙂 But this market was truly amazing to wander around in!!!
LikeLike
What a feast! This market is much more hip and cleaner and brighter than the market I knew as a child. This place is certainly a cook’s paradise.
LikeLiked by 1 person
….it was very clean and bright and with good air circulation etc. A “cook’s paradise”….and do remember, many of these fish and sea creatures become sushi and/or are eaten raw…no cooking needed! Just a little cleaning and perhaps chopping or filleting !
LikeLiked by 1 person
The sight, alone, is a delight, and your words make it so vivid.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad you enjoyed. It was truly an amazing place!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fun images of their wild markets. I remember them chopping up live octopus for a salad and the tentacles stuck to the roof of my mouth. Great pics and verbal images
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yup…..that’s what they do. Not for me…but truly amazing to see!
LikeLike
Interesting are the different palates of the world. I love your pictures. I would say no thank you, too, with a smile.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve hit the nail on the head so to speak!!!! Different palates of the world….exactly! 🙂 And always fun to see and explore, not necessarily to actually taste it all. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gorgeous photos. I missed this market on my visit. What an incredible market!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was indeed amazing! And so many many aisles…we really enjoyed wandering and looking and peering into glass tanks and plastic buckets. We even saw very large live toads in one bucket. I think the eels were the ones that sort of gave me the heebie-jeebies just to see…but then I don’t like snakes so anything that looks like that and when there’s sooooo many slither-swarming in one glass tank….well, it was just amazing to see it all!
LikeLike
that was a very graphic description of a market I’d not visit … love Korean food but only the vegetarian variety!
LikeLike
The sights are awesome! And gorgeous market pics.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you enjoyed!
LikeLike
Cool! I learnt something from your poem, about sea pineapples. Before googling, I thought it was a reference to Spongebob Squarepants.
LikeLike