Art Pottery, Politics and Food
Thursday, November 18, 2004
 
Gold & Gangsters


Bactrian gold protected by the ancient Afghan talwildar tradition.

The gangsters of the world
Are riding high.
It's not the underworld
Of which I speak.
They leave that loot to smaller fry.
Why should they great Capone's
Fallen headpiece seek
When stolen crowns
Sit easier on the head--
Or Ethiopia's band of gold
For higher prices
On the market can be sold--
Or Iraq oil--
Than any vice or bootleg crown of old?
The gangsters of the world ride high--
But not small fry.

Gangsters--Langston Hughes, September, 1941


Images: National Geographic

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