Vienna’s Mozartean Rendez-vous (In Cultural Goulash)

Vienna Review —
Jun 25, 2011

there is a place where you can go

to meet many worlds:

Vienna’s Saturday Rendezvous

in Wien’s Naschmarkt arena –

a Mozartean mosaic

where Variety Fevers unfold;

a smorgasbord of global scale

in gourmet mania the cultures are goulashed

New Zealand’s sweet corn on the cob

Arabian breads and Doner Kebab

the Congo’s big green mangoes swell

kumquats come from Israel

masked bureaucrat in Levis sports slips on a leaf

rising, cursing onlookers, he jams the slow traffic

Japanese tourists shop oblivious

through rivers of rushing pantyhose

between mountains of potatoes

and hills of hard red Bulgarian tomatoes

Lady Fingers are Indonesian

Pineapple golds are Costa Rican

kommn viele, kaufen alle

canned horse and Kabanossi

housewives oozing hairsprays from Friseur salons

meander among punk-tones

and squareheads that rummage

through the luxury fruit-and-vedge stalls,

Greek bazaars to Backhendel Friedhof –

at the Kase und Wurst Urban-eck

opera divas and starlets beam unmade-up

there’s chicken feet and perfumed rice

oriental nuts, drugs, dates and Spies

kommn viele, kaufen etwas

noble Balkan Paprikas

time to replenish stocks or enhance full frigidaires

time to linger through the globed-in restaurant fares

no time to feel regrets so many have no choices

tja...

- Camilo Antonio