Janet Kuypers

Cesium, “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem by Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

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Cesium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#055, Cs)

Is this the best of times?
Is this the worst of times?
Or is this just
             one of those times?

Only humans understand time —
where did all the time go?
Do we even know?
Time slips away
as we look for ways
to keep time every day
right down to the nanosecond.

Because without my Cesium,
I couldn’t be so obsessed
with being on time
for absolutely everything…

Without Cesium clocks,
everyone would be forced
to be their clueless selves
when it comes to their time
in this global village…

We can thank Cesium-133
for producing identical radiation
at exactly the same frequency,
which makes Cesium perfect
for the Cesium atomic clock
that monitors time globally
in such perfect detail.

Perfect for my obsession with time.

But I have to remember
that with Cesium or without,
time is only a human construct…
I’ll need to check my watch,
and remind myself of this
at times like these.

Cerium, “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem by Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

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Cerium

by Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#58, Ce)
including the poem “Jumping from the Skyline to the Clouds”
8/6/13

Joining commuters driving
toward the Chicago Loop,

I watched majestic skyscrapers
frame the skyline,

as I witnessed over Lake Michigan
early morning clouds —

thin at the top, each cloud looked
like a snow-capped mountain,

framing this flat-land city, and
surrounding the skyscraper skyline…

But all those clouds
were only formed in the mornings

by the early morning weather,
pulling water daily from Lake Michigan.

When the water from the lake
is warmer than the dew point,

water rises until the air is cold enough
so that lake water forms those clouds.

But the thing is, Lake Michigan
is more than hydrogen and oxygen —

at times they even warn the public
to not go into the unsafe water

(the same water Chicago filters
for everyone to shower in, or drink).

So I checked some of the studies
on what foreign compounds

Lake Michigan actually contains —
at times you can find everything

from cadmium, mercury, lead or zinc,
to copper, chromium, even selenium.

That list included harmful elements,
but the numbers that were really

off the charts came from Cerium.
Cerium acts like calcium

in the human body, and you can
find a lot of Cerium in tobacco plants —

and with Cerium’s moderate toxicity,
prolonged exposure can lead to

itching, heat sensitivity or skin lesions.
And wait a minute, Cerium can

spontaneously ignite if the air
is hot, and you may be thinking

that if Cerium’s in water it should
be safe, but water can’t be used

to stop a Cerium fire, since Cerium
reacts with water to make hydrogen gas.

Well, if Cerium fire fumes are toxic,
then so much for Lake Michigan being

good for you — even when Chicago
has multiple water purification plants.

Because Cerium in the water
that forms those morning clouds

is one thing, but no matter the toxicity
of Cerium, remember that us humans

are over seventy percent water.
With all the compounds

that Cerium goes into,
it’s probably best if Cerium’s left

to it’s industrial uses, instead
of working it’s way in our water…

And besides, it’s nice to think
that those beautiful morning clouds

framing the Chicago skyline
with snow-capped mountains

are actually more than just hydrogen
and oxygen, because every once

in a while, look at that morning sky.
Because in just the right way,

a little Cerium
can really go a long way.

Cadmium, “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem by Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

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Cadmium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#048, Cd)
(stemming from “You’ve Already Paid for This”, written 09/14/09)
3/28/13

The battered woman
entered the all-night
gas station/grocery store.
The attendant sees
the man waiting in the car.
He looks
tense and angry.

The attendant looks at the woman.

“Marlboros,”
is all she said.
The attendant glances at the car,
then looks at the rows of cigarettes
over the counter.
The woman says,
“it’s for my husband.”

The attendant asks,
“Which kind?”
The woman absent-mindedly says
“Red.”

The attendant
reaches for the package.

The attendant thinks
that even though there is more
of the poisonous Cadmium
in the food we eat,
the Cadmium’s easily absorbed
when you breathe it in
through these smokes.

Studies have even found links
between Cadmium and cancer,
the attendant thinks.

So the attendant looks at the woman
hands her the cancer sticks,
and thinks,
“you’ve probably
already
paid for this.”
Even though Cadmium
is used for pigments,
or nickel Cadmium batteries,
smokers get four to five times
more Cadmium in their blood,
and two to three times
more Cadmium in their kidneys.

The woman closes her purse.
The attendant closes the register.
Give it time,
was all
the attendant thought
as the woman left.

Boron from the Big Bang, “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem from Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

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Boron from the Big Bang

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#005, B)
3/21/13

The Higgs boson,
the Higgs particle.
The God particle,
as some have called it.
It’s an elusive
elementary particle
theorized about
for nearly half a century.

They call it the God particle
because it might have created
all matter.

You see, scientists
are trying to figure out
how the Big Bang
started to evolve.
You see, the theory
is that all of the universe’s energy
was created
from this massive explosion
from
nothingness.
But the question remains:
how did any
of that energy
turn into matter?

Because during the first
few minutes of our universe
after the Big Bang,
the temperature was so hot,
that it was too hot
for any binding energy
that could have supported
any matter, even hydrogen
or it’s isotope deuterium.
With temperatures so hot,
this bottleneck
delayed the formation of anything
until the universe
was cool enough
to make anything
out of anything.

But just a few minutes
after the Big Bang,
elements burst forth,
because the universe
suddenly got cool enough.
But at twenty minutes
after the Big Bang,
the universe was suddenly
TOO cool for nuclear fusion
or nucleosynthesis,
and THAT is when elemental
abundances were nearly fixed…

That means
hydrogen, helium
and trace anounts
of lithium, beryllium
and Boron
were the elements formed
in those first three minutes
of the Big Bang.
(Sorry, any elements
starting at carbon or higher
were only formed
after stars were around
to create them.)

…So the creation
of matter out of energy
during the formation
of this universe
only happened
in an insanely brief period
of the universe’s history.
Was it just
the insanely hot temperature
in this insanely short period
that did it?

And what does this
have to do with
the Higgs boson particle anyway?

Well, scientists believe
this Higgs particle is a part
of the Higgs field,
an invisible field of energy
throughout the entire universe.
That Higgs particle
interacts with whatever energy
passes through the Higgs field.
And with this interaction,
particles,
massless particles,
they trade their energy
to gain mass
when passing through.

And this Higgs field,
in the beginning of the universe,
helped create matter.

Which helped create us.

Higgs helped create matter,
including the first elements
in the universe,
from hydrogen
to the comparatively heavy
Boron.

Yeah,
five electrons is heavy
in the formation of the universe.

Yeah, Boron,
which helps keep our bones strong.
Boron treats osteoarthritis.
Boron builds muscles,
and when it comes to
trying to understand this science,
it even improves our thinking skills.

We’ve known of Boron
for thousands of years,
from the deserts in Tibet,
or from China in glazes
through to Persia
before it got to Italy,
where it was used
for medical purposes.

Well, knowing how long
we’ve used Borax for cleaning,
or even that Boron’s used
to make the strongest
magnet ever made,
it’s nice to know
that we also understand
how much this
infancy-of-the-universe
element
is vital in everything in our lives,
from our muscles and bones
to the very creation of the universe.

Yeah, it’s cool to see
how scientists
are starting to piece together
how matter came to be
in this universe,
because without that Higgs field,
and without that Higgs particle,
energy would never
have turned into
Boron,
to create any

thing,

or even create us.