Golden Cowrie

Flamingo tongue with a Saturn-ringworm shape,           mainly very polished, part                     abalone sea-ear,                               probably named “cowrie”

for the fissure’s resemblance to the vulva           of a sow, or the breast-implant-                     function it would later                               fill. The Romans called it

“porculi” for porcelain and little pig.           The Greeks, “a column, a spiral                     staircase, a rococo                               currency.” Today they’re

known as “turbans,” “seizing Europe with the same           fervor as Tulipmania.”                     Nonetheless, cowries use                               holes to breathe. “The raised parts”—

nervures and aureoles—protect by hugging           “mantle lobes, labral portions,” when                     movement occurs. They live                               on submerged reefs emerg-

ing suddenly and slide over them with ease. Sara Sutter’s work appears [...]