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  • Japan's Ama Divers
  • Kay Cosgrove (bio)

The oldest diver is 92.Her body perfected with age,          more adept at finding the shellfish, seaweed.

She has breasts as armoragainst cold waves, the swell.          One can stay warmer as a woman,

can go further into the dark.Better insulated, we know coldness.          The husbands drink tea in the boat.

Work is work, practice is just that—another dive, another          dinner. Lucky to have a daughter

who can feed the family.The Ama whistle between dives.          And how disappointing

to come up to more of the same.Do I believe people can change?          Work, as the Ama know, never takes a holiday.

I can't hold my breath for long but I do my best.Underneath you and your Darjeeling, I scream like a woman          who's found a pearl. Listen, [End Page 102]

I'll find something to showfor this time spent alone.          "This is work without a beginning or end." [End Page 103]

Kay Cosgrove

Kay Cosgrove's poetry has been accepted by the New Yorker, Prairie Schooner, FIELD, Massachusetts Review, EPOCH Magazine, and elsewhere. She received her PhD in American literature and creative writing from the University of Houston, and she currently teaches at St. Joseph's University as a visiting assistant professor of English.

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