first,
it was a single entity
an unbrilliant black charcoal sloe female by identity
faded shadowy shades of stygian dark
slipping in and flitting flower to flower making mark
second,
two came dancing like onyx layers
colors changed sable ebony players
deep dark obsidian pitch male
pipeline swallowtails spotty blue indigo sails
the final dance
black butterflies
in the last of summer cries
separate endings
the last goodbyes.
In apartheid-torn South Africa, poet Ingrid Jonker struggled tragically in search of love and a sense of home. Portrayed in the 2011 movie Black Butterflies
You are the rarest and the heaviest
Of all our precious metals here on Earth…
Your sisters, Gold and Silver, are stockpiled...
But you are not...in case supply runs low.
To generate one ounce of you we need
Ten tons of ore and five months’ processing.
Outstanding jewelers, like Cartier,
Famed Faberge, plus Tiffany, create
Their jewelry designs in Platinum.
They turned you into lavish settings that
Secure some famous diamonds like the Hope,
Jonker and Koh-I-Noor. Your surface can
Be scratched, but unlike sisters Silver and
Pure Gold, there is no Platinum that’s lost.
You are the rarest and most valued one...
Each year we mine one hundred thirty tons,
To Gold’s one thousand seven hundred plus.
Our Platinum…rare metal of our Earth.
© Sandra M. Haight 2014
All Rights Reserved
~NA~
Contest: Periodic Table Elements
Sponsor: Anthony Slausen
Judged: 01/06/2015
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