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

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

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.

Robert Hass Poet. Translator

Robert Hass is one of contemporary poetry’s most celebrated and widely-read voices. In addition to his success as a poet, Hass is also recognized as a leading critic and translator, notably of the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz and Japanese haiku masters Basho, Buson and Issa. Critics celebrate Hass’s own poetry for its clarity of expression, its conciseness, and its imagery, often drawn from everyday life.

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Robert Pinksy Poem-Jazz

Robert Pinsky writes poems that have earned praise for their musical energy and ambitious range. Born to a working class family in Long Branch, New Jersey, in high school he was voted “most musical boy.” The three time U.S. Poet Laureate writes his poems to be spoken, with a focus on the timbre and musicality of the words. His PoemJazz project, in which he “plays” his poetry with jazz musicians, brings a new level of performance to his reading.

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Book. Poem. Robert Pinksy

Robert Pinsky writes poems that have earned praise for their musical energy and ambitious range. Born to a working class family in Long Branch, New Jersey, in high school he was voted “most musical boy.” The three time U.S. Poet Laureate writes his poems to be spoken, with a focus on the timbre and musicality of the words.

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

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.