Month: July 2014

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

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Titanium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#22, Ti)
(based on the poem “The Way You Tease Me”)
10/1/13

What I think I like the most about you
is the way you always leave me wanting more.
The longer I’m out in the sun, the more red
my nose and cheeks get, and the more I want
to slather you all over me to protect me.

What I think I like the most about you is how
whenever I see you around me, you consume me
like a wave of heat on a summer afternoon.
Seeing your metal along my flesh teases me
until sweat dances down my hairline and tickles my neck.

What I think I like the most about you
is when you say that absence makes the heart grow fonder,
because you’re like the fireworks I only see
on special occasions, and with your absence
I want you more, so you couldn’t be more right.

What I think I like the most about you
are the things that make me think I have to fight for you,
are the things that make you cost just too much.
It’s true, the market determines your worth to the world,
even if you’re always priceless to me.

What I think I like the most about you
is the fact that you can lead the way to help me
fly high into the sky, so I could see any corner
of the Earth, or even see the Universe beyond
our narrow global vision. You do that for me.

What I think I like the most about you
is the fact that you seem so common in the world,
but you manage to hide yourself in just the right way.
But still, you’re everywhere from dental implants to cell phones,
to engagement rings to jet engines to space ships…

What I think I like the most about you
is the wondering about you, is the yearning for you.
That’s what I like. This high-charged guessing game.
You make me work so hard just to find you. You leave me
to think about the possibilities. And that’s what I like.

Oh Abraham

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Abraham

Abraham

Both hold dead babies
“See”
“See what they’ve done”

Innocence is no longer
childhood
when
children see
dead children held in the air

Abraham
Oh Abraham your
God
is noisy
childish
and leaves
dead children in the street
and trash in the ocean

Rodeo Ready by Norman Tween

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Rodeo Ready

Rodeo Ready

Here is a song about Rodeo Ready
he could ride a horse real steady
and he sang his songs all night long
to his lovely darlin’ Betty
That’s Betty Ready

She said,
You can ride and twirl a rope
and sing like a chickadee
why don’t you sing on the radio
and not just sing for me.

So that’s when Rodeo Ready
when down to the radio

He said,
I’m Rodeo Ready
and I’ve got a song or two
I always sing these songs for Betty
but now I’ll sing them all for you.

So he sang his songs and they looked on
and then they had this to say,
We like your songs and the way you play
and thanks for coming by today,
but
You’re not radio ready,
no siree
You’re not radio ready.
Leave your card in the hall with Eddie,
Mr Rodeo Ready.

So Rodeo Ready went home to Betty
he said,
I sang my songs in the bar so strong
but Them old dudes said I sounded wrong.
They said you’re not Radio Ready
and to leave my card with Eddie
Cause I’m not Radio Ready.

So who is this Radio Ready said Betty
I swear he don’t mean nothin’ to me
And if he’s so good”
on the radio already he’d be.”

So now ya’ll know Rodeo Ready
never got on the radio
and he went back to
singing his songs alone to Betty
Well one day he became a dadd-ee-o
Folks showed up when the child was born,
and asked them, “What’s the baby’s name?

Well Betty looked at Rodeo

Rodeo looked at Betty

“We’ll call him Radio Ready
He’ll be Radio Ready.

And on the way home
Betty she moaned
“Did you leave your card with Eddie?”

Lyrics by David Michael Jackson and Norman Tween
Melody by Norman Tween
Guitar by Andy Derryberry

Photo Clipped from Why the Cowboy Sings


From

Western Folklife Center

Copyright 2014 All Rights Reserved

Posts by Summer Breeze

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Edy Lou Benjamin

Edy Lou Benjamin

Summer Breeze (Edy Lou Benjamin) of Silver City, New Mexico founded our sister site, Motherbird.com and has been our friend and comrade since 1998. We lost her this year. She also published many poems at Artvilla over the years.
We will miss you, Summer.

Here are the posts Summer published at Artvilla since 2005. Not all of the dates are accurate.

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Fish Quay North Shields by Norman Tween

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Fish Quay

Fish Quay

The tall reddish building (the 18th Century ‘Low Light’ which assisted navigation from the river entrance)

This guache sketch is drawn from an old postcard photo of the Fish Quay c1940s. I made up the colours but the Low Light is seen with its former pre-white fascia. I doubt the workers in the fish sheds would be wearing yellow oilskins then, probably black. The outline of Knott’s Flats, completed c1938, can just be seen in the far background to the left of the Low Light.

The High Light is on the bank above. Boats coming in aligned both buildings to avoid the rocks in the estuary. Cliffords Fort is behind the Low Light. Some signs of the Fort wall remain.

The fascinating North Shields Fish Quay dates back to the 13th Century. Amongst its many historical elements is Clifford’s Fort, a Scheduled Ancient Monument built in the 17th Century as part of a network of coastal defences.…….Fish Quay

From Wiki:
North Shields is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Historically part of Northumberland, it is located eight miles (13 km) east of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Its name derives from Middle English schele meaning ‘temporary sheds or huts (used by fishermen)’,[1] and still today, the area is synonymous with fishing and other trades associated with seafaring.

FISH QUAY GUT2

Thulium, “Periodic Table” poem by Chicago poet Janet Kuypers

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Thulium

Janet Kuypers

from the “Periodic Table of Poetry”” series (#69, Tm)
7/18/13

Scroll to Medieval times,
and see a classical map.

Look over the Carta Marina,
because there you can find
what some theorized
as an island of antiquity —
through for those who traveled
by boat around Britain,
the Thule was the most northerly
of the Britannic Islands.
In ancient literature, however,
the Ultima Thule
was the symbol for
a far-off land,
something unattainable.

And when Thulium was discovered
in the late eighteen hundreds
(named after Thule,
as a mythical region
in Scandinavia),
the element was so rare that
it’s qualities were unattainable…

But even though this is
the rarest of the rare,
and despite the high cost,
it’s in the YAG laser, used
for laser surgery, for work
unattainable by the human hand.
It’s even bombarded
in a nuclear reactor
for it’s use in portable
x-ray devices,
so we can see
what was otherwise
unattainable to the naked eye.

I mean, because of
Thulium’s fluorescence,
it’s even inside euro banknotes,
to prevent counterfeiting.

Because Thulium fluoresces
with a deep blue hue,
we’ll sail the oceans
to learn, we’ll go to
the farthest places we know,
just to see trace glimpses,
because we want to go beyond
what we see…