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Oysters and Other Workers The only jewel that is biological, Except as greed is biological, a pearl Is not described in cut or carat. As with flesh, Its luster, shape, and color, not its kilos, count. It is its raw inclusion that creates the pearl; Is it to irritation that the body owes? Creative as the Serpent’s question in the mind A Serpent’s tooth infecting the Edenic clay. And do the divers whose existence is the nacre, Like the miners whose is carbon, when the gem Is in its mounting have their bitterness for Eve Or for the Mammon who she is at one remove? The irritant is value-added for the shellfish, The diamond grace-under-pressure of the coal. Ghost of the Slaver, Captain of the Dhow, Mine Captain, Admit what well you know: the VAT begins At nil; the pearl of great price may have been a black. 27 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...

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