Periodic Table of the Elements Poems

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

by

Samarium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#62, Sm)
(based on the poem “And I’m Wondering”)
10/1/13

I’m wondering if there’s something
chemical that brings us together,
something that brings us to our knees,
something that sucks us in…

Your stare from a distance haunts me;
I know that your look lasts longer
than the Universe itself, so, if we join,
would we stay together forever?

I’m wondering if you’re sensing what I’m
sensing, is it just me, am I making this all up
in my head, or when I glance up and catch your
eyes, do you see how you’ve taken hold of me?

I look at you and think that you’re supposed
to be the one that’s good for everyone else,
that you’re supposed go out of your way to help
everyone else, and the one thing I do know

is that you don’t break down like everyone
else seems to with me, so maybe this attraction
to you might not cause to you leave me.
Maybe you’ll absorb me in, neutron by neutron.

Because really, I’m wondering if it could work out
this time, if we’d have one of those relationships
that no one ever doubts, especially us,
because we know we’ll always be in love…

I’ve been so drawn to you, you have that effect
on me, I can’t help it. This magnetism
is undeniable, the heat you generate can actually
ignite in the air with me. Maybe that’s why

I’ve been wondering why I felt the need
to take your cigarette and inhale, exhale,
while the filter was still warm from
your lips, there just seconds before.

I’ve seen you work well with others. My loved
ones with cancer, you could even help them.
It makes me a little jealous, because I’ve been
so drawn to you that I want you for myself.

Because really, when I catch your eyes from
across the room, when I see your eyes dart away,
when I feel this chemical reaction, well,
what I’m wondering is, do you feel it too.

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

by

Ruthenium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry”” series (#44, Ru)
7/14/13

IÙve looked for something
that would pique my interest,
the palladium bored me,
platinum was too expensive
because it was often so rare,
but then I looked around
and thatÙs when I discovered you.

I mean, there didnÙt seem to be
much of a use for you,
I even heard that a metals company
even offered 100 grams of you
free to aspiring researchers
(hoping that someone
one day may find a use for you)…

Organometallic chemistry experts
were even trying to give you away.

Well, sure, chemists used you —
they mixed you with whatever
they could find, just to see
what you might possibly create.

(Kind of like a bartender,
trying to come up with
the perfect cocktail, they
could mix for decades…)

but IÙve looked into it,
and youÙre a cheap dull grey,
probably something
IÙd find at a Walmart…

I know, I said I was looking
for something to pique my interest,
and though you come around cheaply,
youÙre still harder to find.
IÙll keep looking for something
to pique my interest,
and who knows, maybe
one day
people will find just the right niche,
and youÙll be just what I need.

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

by

Rubidium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#37, Rb)
(based on the poem “Burning Building”)
10/2/13, finished 10/3/13

You tell me you want to be the hand
that pulls me from the burning building,
but you caused that fire.
They try to put it out with water,
but you turn it into hydrogen gas.
You give everything more heat,
and the fire only expands.

So every time I try to be rescued
you turn your back,
you claim you have more work to do.

So I will rescue myself this time again,
and I will wonder if I should stop trying
and allow myself to perish in the flames.
Now all I have to do is sit and wait
for another disaster to consume me.

I’ll wait for you to do your work.
Sitting and waiting is exactly what I’ll do.

You fascinate me with your fireworks, you think,
oh, what a pretty purple color. She’ll like that.
But I was never that fond of that color,
and I hate the damage you can cause.

When things get hot, it seems you melt
just above my own body temperature.
How can I survive with you like this?

My love for you is the deepest red, but
why do you tell me one thing and do another?
You really charge me when we’re together, but
why do you run away when I need you most?

I’m stepping over the wooden beams now,
and the flames are all around me. Here, look
at the blood dripping from my arms. Here,
smell my flesh burning. This is what you do.

You have been so volatile recently, that you
seem to react to everything I ever do, even
if it’s in an effort to save us. So, let me burn.

Can’t it be easier for me to just perish? I try and try,
and every time at the last minute, my figure
steps over the the charred remains and saves me.

If only you wouldn’t create the burning.
Is only you would exist for more than destruction,
even if it was only for purple fireworks, or
conducting electricity, or cooling lasers,
giving power to batteries, or outer space energy.

But I’m afraid to be with you anymore,
because you’ll even spontaneously ignite
in the air. I know our past, I know I can
absorb you into me, But I only know now
that you serve no purpose for me.

So after all this time, I only wonder if I could
ever feel safe with you, even just once.

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

by

Rhodium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#45, Rh)
10/15/13

When you say the word “menthol,”
images probably crop up in your head
of women holding a cigarette stick
like she’s using her smoke
as an orchestra wand,
tracing the line of smoke
like she’s conducting a symphony
with her mint-tasting cancer stick.

But menthol’s also used in lip balms
(I really like that stuff, too,
I like the minty flavor on my lips) —
it’s even used in cough medications.
It can be used in those Icy Hot patches,
menthol’s in decongestants
like Vicks VapoRub, it’s in
aftershaves to relieve razor burn.
Yeah, and speaking of the taste
in cigarettes or lip balm, menthol
is in mouthwashes, toothpastes,
even chewing gum.

So really, now that you know how
widely it’s used now, you can see
how menthol’s demand is now so huge
compared to the natural supply.
So in Japan, one man even won in 2001
the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for
a process to meet the demand
for more menthol worldwide.
This Japanese team used Rhodium
based catalysts for menthol synthesis.

And yeah, Rhodium is used in catalysts
for anything from automobile
catalytic converters, or making
certain silicone rubbers. And sure,
Rhodium is used for jewelry,
coating sterling silver to stop tarnishing
or electroplating white gold and platinum,
making it white and reflective.

I mean, the Guinness Book of World Records
gave Paul McCartney a Rhodium-plated disc
in 1979 for being history’s all-time best-selling
songwriter and recording artist.

Not gold. Not titanium. But Rhodium.

(And because Rhodium’s so expensive,
that World Records award disc given to
Paul McCartney isn’t even solid Rhodium.)

So I guess it’s kind of interesting that
this expensive decorative jewelry addition
is also used to give our chewing gum
that excellent minty flavor. So yeah,
when you’re worrying about how money
can seem tight sometimes,
don’t worry about the jewelry.
Just pop a stick of mint chewing gum
in your mouth, thanks to Rhodium,
and realize that we all probably
don’t have it that bad after all.

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

by

Radium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#088, Ra)

Women got jobs
painting luminescent Radium
on clock dials —
These Radium Girls
would lick the tips
of their brushes
to get a finer point
for painting the Radium
onto these clocks,
and some of these women
even painted the Radium
on their fingernails,
or even their teeth.
But before the Great Depression
began, five Radium Girls
started getting sores,
anemia, bone fractures,
necrosis of the jaw,
and even cancer,
because when it’s ingested,
the body treats Radium
like calcium, so the Radium
went straight to their bones.
They sued the Radium
Luminous Material Corporation
for damages,
because the Radium
was doing them in.

In an effort to
avoid liability,
the Radium Luminous
Material Corporation
even tried to suggest
that the Radium Girls
actually had syphilis.

Really.
That’s what they said.

So although the corporation
was very careful
to not expose themselves
to Radium,
they apparently didn’t have
the same concern
for their employees.

So, the Radium Girls
may now be known
for bringing on labor laws,
but scientists,
five years after
the cases were settled,
could still measure Radium
in the exhaling
of one of the painting employees.

I wonder if there was enough
Radium on their breath
to give these Radium Girls
a radioactive glow,
because at one point,
Radium was even added
to toothpastes and hair creams
because people believed
Radium had curative powers.
Imagine going to a spa
with Radium-rich water,
because if you tell
anything to people
in just the right way,
you’ll be amazed
at what people will believe.