Market Music - Ronen Shapira
Here’s the poem he is working from:
Rynek Square in Lida
The market is always the heart,
the center of life in Lida. A mile
from the train station, a few steps
from the shul, you would always
find yourself passing through
the square, hearing the banging
of the coppersmith, the bargaining
in Yiddish, Russian, Polish,
Belorussian. And since the Jews
were half the sellers,
most of them spoke all the tongues.
And since the factories were nearby
you could buy the Hebrew-named
Ardal shoes and the famous Pupko beer.
Picture the farmers, the tradesmen,
bakers, milkmen, money changers,
the bartering, selling, an apple stolen
from a cart. Think of the gossips, the
news,
the information exchanged while a horse
was being shoed, a pair of trousers let out.
Imagine the morning psalms
before the trading, the evening prayers
after the day’s reckoning,
now those images
exist only in our construction
recreated in our music