Hi Carl,
I should have caught that about the Brooklyn Bridge! I've crossed it, after all. But anyway.
My wife, asked about raspberries, also gave your bed of roses meaning but had no handle on why Mandelstam would have said it. Russian is her first language. I like your alternative theory myself. And Are You Being Served is an interesting slice of time.
Maybe Mandelstam was referring to that novel - that would be nicer than assuming he was stereotyping. It's a bit more acid in that reading, and the poem is certainly that.
Cheers,
John
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