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the 2012 poetry bomb chapbook
Download the free chapbook with this poem titled  Count Me In, with
the Periodic Table of Poetry poems.
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Watch this YouTube video
of this “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem read live in Chicago 11/17/12 (Canon) at Blue Bettie’s Poetry Reading
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
of this “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem read live in Chicago 11/17/12 (Sony) at Blue Bettie’s Poetry Reading
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
of poems read from Janet Kuypers’ “Periodic Table of Poetry” series, live in Chicago 11/17/12 (Canon) at Blue Bettie’s Poetry Reading, including tihs poem
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
of poems read from Janet Kuypers’ “Periodic Table of Poetry” series, live in Chicago 11/17/12 (Sony) at Blue Bettie’s Poetry Reading, including tihs poem
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Sodium” (+ also showing its “image” for the poem), “Neon”, and “Diane Talking About her Trip to Mexico City” from the Down in the Dirt 9-12/22 issue collection book “The Paths Less Traveled” & her books “Periodic Table Poetry” and “Shattering the Glass Ceiling” to close her “Poetic License 2/5/23 global open mic” in a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, & Tumblr).
video Enjoy this video as a Facebook live video stream from a Samsung S9 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, & Tumblr. #janetkuyperswomensrights #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersshatteringtheglassceiling #janetkuypersequalityforwomen #janetkuypersperiodictablepoem #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Sodium

Janet Kuypers
from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series
8/31/12

It’s funny that something
so common on this Earth,
the 6th most abundant element,
something so common
that it’s usually found
mixed with the ocean water...
It’s funny that something
so common on this Earth
was actually used as currency,
given to ancient Roman soldiers
in addition to their wages.
The English word for it
was even derived from “salary”,
derived from “salarium”
for the wafers for payment.
In Medieval times, “sodanum”
was used to relieve headaches.
And the element name
is probably derived
from the Arabic “suda”
for headache...
It is in the soaps we make,
and we add it to the food
we eat. It has been used
in making and bleaching paper,
it’s in water softeners,
it’s used in compounds
for industrial cleaners,
or even as a tissue dissolving agent.

It’s funny, how we have it
in kosher, iodized and rock forms
in our kitchen.

So I guess it’s fitting
that this silver-white element
(which does not occur in nature
but is derived from it’s compounds),
it’s amazing that
this abundant element
has been used in so many ways,
from creating soaps
to industrial cleaners
to even dissolving tissue...
To even flavoring our food.
In us animals, Sodium
is even needed for nerve impulses
generated in our cell membranes.
So yeah, it makes sense
that if Sodium’s so needed,
and Sodium’s so abundant,
we’d use it in as many compounds
as we possibly can
to make our lives better.




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Sodium Sodium; image by Kaycie D., kcd-elements.tumblr.com Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium Sodium

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