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# Patina
- URL: https://www.fsm.ink/patina/
- Published: 2026-06-12T16:00:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-12T16:00:18.000Z
- Author: Staff
- Tags: Poetry, #Import 2026-08-03 09:59

*by Lizzy Pantoga-Montoto*

Bebs is a jewelry maker and an indie flower  
with a stem intentionally wrapped  
around culture and steep history  
that isn’t hers. She likes beads and  
goes to auctions to find ones from  
the Dead Sea and unfortunately,  
slave trade. She makes them into necklaces  
gaudy enough to wrap around your neck  
to feel ridiculous and rich.  
The impact of hearing an artist speak  
about their work is if you are empathetic, you care  
and caring is a bridge from seeing art to buying it.  
In more ways than one you can be bought:  
You can spend $450 on jewelry that is  
unwearable. You can also nod  
when she says unfortunately, slave trade  
and hands you a necklace that  
you hold, delicately, as it is made out  
of old beads and thinning string and  
the structural integrity is not  
something to put your faith in.  
Patina is another thing that  
Bebs babbles about, she likes  
rusty green coins—African  
coins—and when she hands you them  
the grit of thousands of fingers  
oiling up the surface squeals underneath  
your touch—but in the face  
of the artist—you smile.