Month: February 2014

Neodymium, “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem from Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

by

Neodymium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#060, Nd)

I am drawn to you, / you pull on me so,
when I think of how / you’re so magnetic.

With your electric charge, / my motor’s going,
you get me charged up / thinking it’s a game…

You use my favorite gems, / Garnet and crystals,
and you make every point / seem laser clear.

You’re focus must be why / I’m so drawn to you
I must come to you / until you’re near.

And now you know how / I love my glassware,
so I was sent to / a glass blowing lathe,

and the glass blowers / were making glassware
with you on their eyes / so they could see.

They loaned me their specs, / I put them on —
and through the green-grey specs / the flame was gone.

I did a double-take — / there was no glare —
leaving me to see / just molten glass.

‘Cause on those glasses, / you weren’t alone —
you worked in pairs there / so we could see.

‘Cause to the Greeks / you are a new twin,
that’s where together’s / how you fit in…

 

And all of this time / I was drawn to you
but now you’ve proven / you can help me see.

Seventy Percent Water by David Michael Jackson

by
poem

poem

 

If you feel

that you can’t do it
do it anyway.

If you feel

your talent to be ordinary,
play ordinary well.

If you dream,
do

and don’t ask if it’s good enough.

For whom is it good enough?

You paint the flower
and if they see the thorn

do not despair.

We are seventy percent water
and the rest,
hot air.

 

 

Fallen Art and The Cathedral by Tomasz Baginski

by
The Cathedral

The Cathedral

Fallen Art is the most powerfully graphic statement of war ever produced. The macabre dance produced by the machine is almost too much for the senses. I get it big time.

Via Wiki…..Fallen Art (Polish Sztuka spadania) is the name of a 6-minute, animated short film written and directed by Tomasz Bagiński. It features Romanian band Fanfare Ciocarlia’s song “Asfalt Tango.” The film was produced and created by Platige Image, a VFX company. In 2006 it received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award.

Via Imdb:
After the award-winning Cathedral (Katedra, 2002), Fallen Art (Sztuka Spadania) is Tomasz Baginski second computer-animated short film.

Like The Cathedral, Fallen Art is a breathtaking show of animation, which will undoubtedly please all fans of computer artwork, but not only. Baginski’s care for detail and his characteristic style are even more evident than in his first film

Katedra – The Cathedral by Tomek Baginski

via Wiki
The film focuses on a man who visits a mystical, organic building that looks like a medieval cathedral. As he walks through the immense structure, the light from his torch falls upon the pillars, revealing human faces. The viewer later realizes that the faces are still alive, as several smile and open their eyes as the man walks past them. The building’s nature is partially unveiled at sunrise as the blinding light enchants the visitor and causes organic branch-like structures to burst from his chest. These protrusions then become another set of pillars in the building.

Baginski bring a macabre style to great statement in both of these award winning short animated films.

Mendelevium, “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem from Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

by

Mendelevium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry”” series (#101, Md)

“Once, there lived and existed
a great learned man,
with a beard
almost as long as God’s.”

Daniel Posen wrote that,
about Demitri Mendeleev,
a Russian scientist
who created the
Periodic Table as we know it.

There’s even a sculpture
outside the Bratislava, Slovakia
University of Technology —
in the center is Mendeleev’s head,
fully adorned with metallic curves
for his flowing name and beard,
as rows of elements
emanate from his head.

Because while other scientists
tried to come up with ways
to order the known elements,
Mendeleev predicted
a system of elements,
based on their weights
and explaining their properties —
this idea showed the spaces
between the atomic weights
of discovered elements,
and explained the properties
of elements that would only be
discovered in the future.

It’s good to know
that just a few years after
the American Civil War ended,
that scientists globally
were able to understand
the relationship between
the elements, thanks to Mendeleev.

And it’s sad
that the science community
waited for nearly half a century
after this God-like scientist’s death
to mane an element after him.

#

Mendeleev did many odd jobs
during his life,
not unlike Albert Einstein,
with an element named after him
only two spots away
on Mendeleev’s Periodic Table.
And the thing is,
Mendelevium is only created
after smashing Einsteinium
with alpha particles…

But it’s sad,
that with all of the research
the world has done
to learn about this element,
we still know so little.
Mendeleev taught us
how to research and discover more,
but now that we found
only trace amounts of Mendelevium,
we still don’t know what to do…

#

Because once we’ve found you,
if you don’t give us enough
so we can learn,
we’re forced to wonder:
will you be more like Einsteinium,
silvery-white, radioactive —
but with an estimated enthalpy
that underlines your danger to us?
Because I imagine that you,
like Mendeleev,
will show us how to learn
then leave us alone
to struggle for you.