crafted in the womb

of earth’s mantle, mollusc’s shell

iridescent gem

brilliantly refracting stone

nature labours, profit born

 

Inspiration for this tanka from RononvanWrites’ Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge #94 ‘diamonds’ and ‘pearls’. The memento mori is Damian Hirst’s sculpture ‘For the Love of God’, produced in 2007, photograph courtesy of Aaron Weber. The skull was cast in platinum from an 18th century skull,  encrusted in non-conflict diamonds and set off with real pearly whites, to the tune of £14M. Hirst alleges that he sold it for £50M to an anonymous consortium. So many points to discuss, but I would say vulgarity and greed are the first things that come to mind. At least they were non-conflict.