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This poem is taken from PN Review 130, Volume 26 Number 2, November - December 1999.

Four Poems Penelope Shuttle

Ore

I was a veinstone rich in chalcocite.
I was killas tongued with granite.
I was the dark green tongue-point
deep down in Michael Herodsfoot Mine.

I was bright green crystals lining a hollow
in a lump of quartz veinstone.
I was snake-green crystals
in a cavity resting on greyish copper sulphate.

I was in the dump at Wheal Cock.

I was connelite.
I was needle-crystals of copper ore
of a garter-blue colour and transparent,
so small I was not to be distinguished

from a needle without a magnifying glass.
When seen, I was pointed,
made of four-sided prisms and two-sided pyramids
...


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