About Lying
My mother used to say it
When I was growing up
But I never really understood it
Until I was, say, about thirteen
Or so.
And what she used to say was
“I hate liars,
A liar and a thief are the same.”
Like I say, it sounded good
Though I didn’t really understand it
For years,
That a liar and a thief are the same
Because they both steal something from you.
How true, and I try to live it
Even though it puts me
At a disadvantage.
Silicon
Janet Kuypers
from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series
I knew that Silicon is good for plant metabolism,
which should make me be happy as a vegetarian
and a woman with I don’t know how many plants
potted and taking over my home.
But Silicon is barely ever needed for animal life…
In nature, Silicon seems to be better suited
for sea sponges. And although I love the sea,
the last thing I want to be called is a sponge.
And you know, if Silicon is used by anyone in the
animal kingdom, you can believe that I really dislike
breast implants made out of Silicon (or made out of
anything unnatural to the human body, for that latter).
And after my Lasik eye surgery, I even heard
they use Silicon for some contact lenses —
which makes me glad I don’t need contacts anymore.
So if Silicon doesn’t have a use organically for humans,
I guess it makes sense then that Silicon is actually
used by humans in explosives and pyroptechnics.
But really, for the abundant element, Silicon
has to have some better uses for us humans,
like in semiconductors, or even intregrated circuits…
But whenever I go out and walk on the beach,
feel the sand work it’s way between my toes,
I should remember that Silicon Dioxide
is pretty much sand.
Then again, I heard that people were suing Taco Bell
a few years back, because their “Taco Meat Filling”,
was only one third meat, plus flavorings, and a bit of
Silicon Dioxide.
So yeah, people wondered, and were asking
if Taco Bell “meat” was actually made with sand.
I know, I know, Taco Bell had to explain that Silica —
or Silicon Dioxide — is commonly used for foods,
and Taco Bell was just using the harmless oxide
to absorb water and keep the meat from clumping.
Hmmm… So if Silicon is common enough
to be under our feet on beaches around the world,
and if this vegetarian should be pleased
that Silicon is used during plant metabolism,
then I guess I’ll have to expect us humans
to use Silicon (even if we don’t need it)
to help us see better with eye contacts,
or comically exaggerate our breast size,
or even use integrated circuits
to help set off some cool fireworks,
because Silicon has to be cooler
than just the beauty of the beach at sunset.
 Download this poem in the free chapbook the 7/22/12 Beach Poets chapbook, w/ the Periodic Table of Poetry poems. |
  See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem at her Beach Poets feature 7/22/12 in Chicago (from the Canon) |
 See YouTube video of Kuypers reading 7 poems from her series “Periodic Table of Poetry” at her Beach Poets feature 7/22/12 in Chicago, including this poem (from the Canon) |
Always the coldness
creeping in
disturbing the warmth
of my illusions,
illusions of
d’Artagnan seeking
one for all and
all for one
true friends
warm love
risking all.
For them
the musketeers
there were no borders drawn
between them,
they knew that
borders don’t exist
imaginary lines
drawn in the mists
of paranoia.
But they
the musketeers
are only my
illusions,
now.
Like them
I drift into
invisibility
missing them
I have become
a nonexistent
border
separating love
and despair.
Krypton
Janet Kuypers
from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series
So, riddle me this, Batman…
(Wait a minute. That’s the wrong
superhero reference.
Let me start over again…)
Hi there. I’ve been trying
to wrap my head around this one,
maybe you can help me out.
Now, I don’t know a ton
about superhero mythology,
but Superman — he’s from
the planet Krypton, right?
And from what I’d infer,
Krypton would have a lot
of Kryptonite — Kryptonite
comes from Krypton, right?
So if Superman is from Krypton,
why would Kryptonite
be his weakness?
I mean, that’s like saying
the planet Earth has Oxygen,
but humans have an adverse
reaction to it. I don’t get it.
Okay, okay, i’m sure Kryptonite
is the ore form of a radioactive
element from Superman’s home,
but really, if they’ll name
this bad-for-residents thing
a version of the panet’s name,
it really makes you wonder
why.
And when it comes to this planet,
Krypton is colorless, odorless, tasteless…
and our own air, the stuff we breathe,
even contains fractional amounts of Krypton.
And if on Superman’s home planet
it was the radioactive ore of an element,
I guess it makes sense that here on earth
Krypton is used for fluorescent lamps,
or even in high-powered gas lasers.
But the one thing I thought was cool
was that Krypton is also used
in small photograph flashes,
and in high-speed photography
(you know, for a brilliant white light
source – good for the photo minor
who even had the license place
“J PHOTO 1” for her first car)…
And if I so got into the brilliant
white light Krypton creates in flashes,
I also then thought it was excellent-cool
that the different colors in neon signs
are often all Krypton, too…
So whether or not Krypton
is where Superman came from,
all I can say is that
Krypton has a certain brilliance
right here on earth too.
The air flows
there are musical notes,
the water flows,
there are birds who still sing
and will bring
babies in the spring.
There is coffee and a comfortable chair
and willow trees make me write
foolishly in this box
while wearing only socks
The grinding of the grain
The turning of the stone.
The water falls
The generator turns
the generator moves electrons
The fingers move over the keys
bringing these
leaves of the grasses
waving in the breeze
The turning of the words,
the words they look over
my shoulder at the page
at the blank page
put us there
they say
put us there on the page
with the grasses
david michael jackson