Resident Poets

David Michael Jackson Doesn’t Exist Poem

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I do feel alone in my writing.
Like Emily
Like Vincent.
Also I feel my writing is for naught.
I am the poem in the night.
for some kid in Singapore.
My words are magnetic spots.
Nobody has a book.
My words are supported by 10 bucks to my host,
not by the world.
You see nobody put me on hard paper where I’ll be preserved.
I am the monks who make sand drawings
which are swept away.
I am the poem in the night.
If the kid in Singapore commented…that would be nice but
I’m still magnetic spots.
Not much different from real life
David Michael Jackson isn’t real
doesn’t exist.
Just ask Wiki or the Times.

Lithium poem by Janet Kuypers

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Lithium

by Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

I know I needed you around me, I was desperate.
I know I wanted you in my life to calm me down.
I know I needed you to stop me from my manic episodes.

They told me it’s not an addiction I have with you,
but then they told me that if I broke away from you altogether
I would cycle back to my old psychotic, unhealthy ways.

So please don’t tell me I’m crazy for wanting you.
But I just couldn’t stand being me. I just wanted to calm down.
I was desperate for you. I wanted to feel normal again.

You were the one to calm ME down, but the thing is,
you were the one that was also supposed to help me
with my poor judgment and aggression.

Because when I was with you, I felt like my blood was on fire.
With you around I couldn’t eat any more. I felt dizzy with you,
I’d feel tremors and twitching. You made me unsteady.

On the surface, you seemed soft to me, with you silver-white hair.
With your lightness, I forgot how metallic you were when we joined.
And now look what we’ve become.

when we finally got together, when we fused together,
when we were finally ready to take each other in,
we became the source for the most violent explosion.

We became a part of a preordained cycle I couldn’t escape,
we became radioactive and caused something so unstable
that we destroyed everything we had.

You helped my destroy everyone that was me.

Helium Poem by Janet Kuypers

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Helium

by Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

I couldn’t help it.
I was attracted to you.
You elevated me.

You seemed so content, so light,
and when I saw you, you looked
so hot, like a solar flare.

Whenever I see you outside,
I feel you penetrating my pores
every single day.

But I didn’t realize
that outside like this,
we were never truly alone.

But being near you made me giddy,
I’d even raise my voice
whenever you’d come near me.

But only now I learn
That even though you’re hot, you’re colder
than anything I’ve ever touched.

So maybe
it wasn’t your heat
that drew me to you…

I think you’re truly unique,
but you tell me you’re common,
even though you’re still so hard to find.

I’d have to
search the Universe for you
to realize

you’re not as special
as you’ve led me to believe.
So, I’m sorry.

I couldn’t help it.
You have this effect on me
whenever you come to me like this.

I’m always so tense,
but with your low boiling point,
and the way you connect with me

you’ve calmed me down
and shown me a new perspective.
Because of this,

I avoided the fact
that we don’t really mix well together.
Either way, I still hoped

you could help me –
I mean, you can make me
feel like I can fly when I’m with you.

I just have to remember
that even though,
Every once in a while,

I can literally breathe you in,
A few second later,
you’re gone.

Hydrogen Poem by Janet Kuypers

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Hydrogen

by Janet Kuypers

from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series

when I thought of our relationship,
when I thought of your relationship to me,
I thought of a molecule of Hydrogen:

how you were afraid of me, but also
how you were so obsessed with me…
and although you always kept your distance,

you were always revolving around me.
and when we finally eventually fused together,
you were like a Hydrogen bomb:

forcing me to push away everyone I loved,
forcing me to hurt everyone close to me.
and that is when I snapped and lost it,

because I couldn’t let you use me like this.
I couldn’t let you cause so much destruction.
I couldn’t let everything I valued be destroyed.

I know it was a basic attraction with us,
but although you might not have liked it, I think
it was better when you just kept your distance.