Resident Poets

Nickel poem by Janet Kuypers

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Nickel

Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

“Nickel for your thoughts,”
he said to me.
So I had to ask,
“a Nickel?
Why?
Because the penny’s undervalued?”
And he said,
“Maybe it’s because
your thoughts
are worth
so much more
than a penny…”
And I thought,
‘great, five times more,
but it’s still
only a nickel…’

Besides, a nickel
is only about
twenty-five percent
nickel
in the first place.
But then again,
even though
it’s three fourths
copper,
the cost of the metals
is worth more
than the coin itself.

So maybe
I should take him up
on his nickel offer.
Then I could say
my thoughts
are worth something.

Phosphorus poem by Janet Kuypers

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Phosphorus

Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

I didn’t know how much I needed you.
I didn’t know how essential you were to me.
I didn’t know how my creation depended on you.

Even though I barely see you,
even though you seemed barely there for me,
even though I got rid of you whenever I could…

I didn’t know that even though
you were barely there,
you were there… just enough.

Like Venus, I only saw you from afar.
Like what is in DNA, RNA, ATP, you are
like me, all the way down to my cell membranes.

When I think of you,
when I breathe in the oxygen around me,
when your phosphorescence illuminates me…

Then I realize your true power.
Then I realize you’re the light bearer.
Then I realize you’re my morning star.

Though you seem toxic,
though you seem explosive,
that’s apparently the spark that gets me going.

So, remember that you give the Earth life.
So remember, you can always light my fire.
So, remember that since you have that charge

you can also help us destroy ourselves.

Neon, poem by Janet Kuypers

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Neon

by Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

Walked toward the entrance
of the now-closed dance club
I used to go to every weekend.

(You see, I’d get the free
weekly newspaper, with coupons
for free admission for girls before midnight.)

Now I go to the Vortex
look for Shelter
and only see broken neon signs.

It reminds me that neon
is common in the universe,
but rare on Earth —

and the only way we get neon
is by liquefying our air,
then actually distilling the neon out.

So I guess it’s fitting,
seeing the broken neon signs
of the once-popular dance clubs,

knowing that all I can do now,
everywhere I go,
is just breathe the neon in.

Immortality a Poem by Seymour Shubin

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Immortality

Grandeur is lost in dust,and strength in clay
Yet beauty is more beautiful to the eye
That sees within an object its decay
And loves it knowing it must die.
Say, love, if we could live forever
And death were dead and time a thing
Becalmed and stagnant, powerless to sever
That taut yet gossamer like string
That binds us each to each, would we then be
Happier and more content? Would we not waste
Hour after hour, knowing that we could see
The next day’s hours? And living without haste
We might spend endless hours in delay
While now we’re conscious of passing time
And spend each moment in a deathless way.
Immortality Poem Copyright 2012 Seymour Shubin
All Rights Reserved

Seymour ShubinSeymour Shubin-02Seymour Shubin Witness To Myself

What Shall I Say Poem by David Michael Jackson

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What Shall I Say

 

Shall I say I have drifted in silence
with the leaves on this creek
or
I have lain in quiet solitude
with these bleached logs.
Shall I say I am the wind
and have seen the river
into which the creek flows
and the sea.

No,
simply this
and only this,

bottomland corn
a creek
and a young man throwing rocks
at leaves.

***

 

 

david michael jackson  circa 1970  I was 22