The Miss Rumphius Effect: Poetry Friday Post Two

Friday, January 08, 2016

Poetry Friday Post Two - Crown Sonnet Concluded

Welcome back! If you haven't been following the crown or have come here directly from the Poetry Friday roundup, do jump over to Laura Purdie Salas's blog where this crown started and then follow the bread crumbs through the blogosphere to each sonnet in the crown. If you do that, you'll end up right back here.

The sixth sonnet in the crown was written by Tanita Davis. She left me with a bit of magic and alchemy to wrestle with. And remember, since this is the last sonnet in the crown, I also needed to end with Laura's first line. Here is the final sonnet in the crown.

A weapons grade plutonium ring by Los Alamos National Laboratory

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plutonium_ring.jpg

Our mettle tested, move from lead to gold

primordial, decaying and man-made

the final row includes the hard-to-hold

radioactive elements arrayed

Most form inside a nuclear playground

where subatomic particles collide

synthetics known for scientists renowned

forever by their names identified

A few were given form before the Earth

from ancient supernova residue,

Uranium, Plutonium give birth

to energy and bombs--I wish we knew

Pandora’s box we hold now, God forbid.

The world escapes when we unhinge the lid.

**Time out for a bit of science - If you've been following the news, you'll recognize that this last sonnet is about the now complete 7th period of the table. The four new elements “discovered” were, in fact, synthesized in a lab. Actually, all the elements from 95 to 118 are synthetic. Once formed they very quickly decay into simpler elements.

I hope you'll take some time to go back and read once more the contributions of each poet. Here is where you'll find the posts by each participant in the crown, in the order they were written.

Finally, and at the prodding of my sisters, I am sharing the full crown here.

The Poetic Table of Elements

The world escapes when we unhinge the lid

that traps all elements inside a chart

When science won't stay tethered to the grid,

our only hope is knowledge tamed by heart

One proton—One electron orbits round

a simple element: first row, first place

When hydrogen ignites, we are unbound

from earth--a rocket blazes into space

But what results? What comes from being first

Solutions for our planet's fragile life?

A cancer beat? Malignancy reversed?

Or data, fused and used, a sharp-edged knife?

Each element, an elegant, sharp key

Will science break us down or set us free?

II.

Will science break us down or set us free?

What bonds secure us here in time and space?

What kryptonite of mind and heart will be,

the downfall of the species and our race?

But all’s not lost if we exploit the chart

manipulating valencies to make

new cures, bold applications, works of art,

in mankind’s quest to keep the world awake

So row by row assembled pure and raw

our lives, our earth composed of bits that spark

organic forms, the very breath we draw

all wrought from heat, from cold, from light and dark

Row 2 gives form to charcoal, diamonds, steel

what other treasures will the chart reveal?

III.

What other treasures will the chart reveal,

in double-lettered gilded boxes, fine

as Portia faced? AR has sex appeal,

I think, and choose my fate by noble shine.

A lilac glow when placed in voltage fields!

A barrier, so wine may age sans air!

Unseen, from dust, our Constitution, shields!

Argon, you worthy prince! you mighty heir—

You cheat. Hypoxic in the blood, you dope

to win; and ew! you asphyxiate, too—

a “kinder” end to fowl. “Inactive”? NOPE.

Those who search for matter (dark) target you.

Still, even the unstable can excite

A science lover, choosing in the night.

IV.

A science lover, choosing in the night

to ponder periodic elements

that cross the bounds of fields of study might

do well to mine fourth row intelligence.

The first row with transition metals, it

is last with elements completely stable.

Though some are poisonous — like arsenic —

radioactivity is down the table.

These minerals derived from the earth’s core,

compose the human body. With their aid,

one can work jewelry, craft circuit boards,

make stainless steel and artificial legs.

So much depends on calcium—like bone—

It’s odd to think it’s metal, and not stone.

It’s odd to think it’s metal, and not stone

that we bite down on, gnash and grind at night.

Fine silver mixed with tin, its pauper clone,

alloyed with other charms to fend off blight.

The way these chemicals transist, set in --

you’d never know they weren’t a part of us.

Perhaps they are as native as our sins

the framework for our aches, the messy truss.

Rubidium -- are we made up of you?

And cadmium and antimony too?

Unstable ores that blow the earth askew

so there’s no fault, no consequence undue.

But what if we own up, apologize:

Don’t blame the elements for our demise.

VI.

Don't blame the elements for our demise.

What doesn't kill us - staid in chemist's hands,

Transformed through science into health's allies -

Will strengthen, if the cure we can withstand.

We scientists approaching this sixth row

Both toxic radon and earth magnets find.

Radiant metals, some with half-life glow

Can manufacture health for humankind.

The intellect, that bright quick silver streak

Of those who sought the elements to tame

Theory to fact, persistence scales the peak

Of ignorance, lends wings to wisdom's flame

so heirs of strength, persist in courage bold

our mettle tested, move from lead to gold.

VII.