I met Sally one day selling seashells galore

not ones found upon my shore.

Packed

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in baskets, cellophane seams

the small tag underneath – “made in Phillipines.”

Living on an island at the edge of the sea

I’d think the shells from here’d be

Crushed coral sand, coco palm vegetation

where’s the local calcium manifestations.

Instead they’re picked and blanched in bleach

crated in from the sands of another beach

Perhaps Sally has better negotations

with those foreign born crustaceans.