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PDF file chapbook download Read or download this poem in the free PDF file chapbook
Interview to Poetry
which contains the Periodic Table of Poetry poems that were performed during this hour-long interview and poetry feature event.
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of Janet Kuypers reading her Periodic Table poem Polonium live in Chicago 8/28/13 (C) at her interview & reading
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Watch this YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her Periodic Table poem Polonium live in Chicago 8/28/13 (S) at her interview & reading
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Watch this YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her Periodic Table poem Polonium live in Chicago 8/28/13 (Sony, Posterize filter) at her interview & reading
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her Periodic Table poem Polonium live in Chicago 8/28/13 (Sony, Watercolor filter) at her interview & reading
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her Periodic Table poems “Polonium” from her 1/30/13 Poetry Saloon at Noon poetry feature and read from her v5 cc&d poetry anthology “On the Edge”, then her poem “One oh One Destruction Instructions: a Man Calls a Woman” originally from her poetry feature “Destruction Instructions” and read from her poetry performance art collection book “A Year-Long Journey”, and “Xylograph: My Story Must be Free” live 2/16/19 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, & Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her Periodic Table poems “Polonium” from her 1/30/13 Poetry Saloon at Noon poetry feature, and read from her v5 cc&d poetry anthology “On the Edge”, then her poem “One oh One Destruction Instructions: a Man Calls a Woman” originally from her poetry feature “Destruction Instructions” and read from her poetry performance art collection book “A Year-Long Journey”, and “Xylograph: My Story Must be Free” live 2/16/19 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her v222 8/24 Down in the Dirt issue/book “A Night Shadow” book poems “Polonium” (which is also in her book “Periodic Table Poetry”, + showing show images 1 & 2), “Polonium: choose your fate, cancer or radiation” (which is also in her book “Twitter Verse Periodic Table Poetry” + showing the poem image & 3/30/22 show image), & “Polonium-210, with sparks flying” (which is also in her book “Twitter Verse Periodic Table Poetry” + showing the show image) during her “Poetic License 8/4/24 global open mic” she hosted through Zoom & a Facebook event page video (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). Also enjoy this as a Facebook live video stream (filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera w/ a Color Film filter; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperstwitterverseperiodictablepoem #janetkuypersperiodictablepoem #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Polonium

Janet Kuypers
from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series (#084, Po)
including the poem “Eyes are Blurred to the Battlefield
8/11/13

On the Indonesian island Jawa
large turtle skeletons
litter the plains,

because after the turtles
came in from the ocean
to lay their eggs,

swarms of wild dogs there
got together and
pounced.

Those wild dogs flipped the turtles over,
and stripped them completely
from their shells

before they ate them alive.

Because we have to remember
that life is a constant
avoidance of death:

since later on, many of those wild dogs
who killed the turtles
were prey to the tiger,

who later pounced upon them.
This is the cycle of life,
because every birth

is a prelude to death.
Remember this.
Don’t forget.

#

Keep in mind that elemental Polonium
changes in a nuclear reactor
to form Polonium-210...

Because the former Russian agent
Alexander Litvinenko
was the first man

to be poisoned to death from lethal
Polonium-210-induced
acute radiation.

So yes, because life is a prelude to,
and a constant avoidance
of death,

this Polonium-210 poisoning marked
the beginning of an era
of nuclear terrorism.

#

I know, I know, this is only
a part of Polonium,
and they found

that Polonium’s electrical conductivity
changes with it’s temperature,
making it perfect

for eliminating static electricity.
And because of it’s
short half-life,

it’s decay generates heat, so it’s a
convenient and light source
to generate

thermo-electric power in space
satellites and lunar stations —
because it’s great

that for space no moving parts
are required for power
from Polonium.

Yes, I know it’s radioactive,
Marie Curie discovered
Polonium

(named for her homeland Poland),
she even coined the phrase
“radioactivity” while

working. She even worked so diligently
that on her own wedding day
she wore a black dress —

because she could then wear it
for the work she later
had to do.

#

Marie Curie wore a black dress
to her own wedding;
maybe she knew

that life is a constant avoidance
of death. Life is just
a prelude to death,

because though Polonium otherwise
seems like a relatively
harmless element,

Polonium-210 can still be used
as just the right element
for nuclear terrorism.

#

With Polonium, there’s much to learn.
Because when alloyed,
it can be

a portable neutron source, Polonium
is even used in making
photographic plates.

But then again, Polonium’s
the only component
of cigarette smoke

found in lab rats to produce cancer.
Polonium was produced
in World War II’s

Manhattan Project — it was even
part of the design of the
Fat Man bomb

on Nagasaki. Yeah, Polonium
has many good qualities
to us humans,

but keep in mind that life is still
a constant avoidance
of death.

So despite what good we look for
in Polonium, this element
can also be

the instrument of death.
Remember this.
Don’t forget.

 


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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