Chemical Elements Poems 12: Named for the Eighth Planet

It was named for the eight planet,
or what was the eighth planet
at the time.

Rare earth most common.
Still, six cents a gram
is more filet mignon
than cereal.

One hundred billion tons
waits on its namesake,
easier to retrieve than any
neptunium on Neptune.

Chemical Elements Poems 11: A Tale from the Niobium Rush

In the tiny town of Snowflake
before the train made it to town,
there was a righteous group of miners
who hoped to spread some wealth around.

Niobium was their ambition,
niobium was what they sought
to build their palaces and gardens
and pay for all the things they bought.

Nowadays it's used in welding
or sometimes alloyed into steel
but in the days we now consider
there was universal appeal.

So when the miners hit a gusher
and pure niobium appeared
they thanked the heavens for their fortune
and rolled out their kegs of beer.

A grand hotel came in to Snowflake
so did the track and Jenny Lind,
the river rats and carpetbaggers,
houses of worship and of sin.

But all too soon the rush was ended,
rare earth barons all but done,
they packed their things and followed fashion
and went in search of tantalum

If you go today to Snowflake,
book a room and do behold
the glory of the bygone ages
when niobium was gold.

Chemical Elements Poems 10: Green Paris and Blue Agents

King of Poisons, Poison of Kings.
Garlic when struck you sneak,
in our water and wood it lurks.
Alien life may thrive on it,
but here it is
hints of green Paris
and blue agents
for striving, chalk-eating commoners.

Chemical Elements Poems 9: Three haiku for Kimberly

Like bismuth except
it's completely unstable,
radioactive.

Curie discovered,
named it after her homeland.
It makes air glow blue.

Workers in Russia
used it to heat lunar craft
and kill dissidents.

Chemical Elements Poems 8: other teeth, other bones

born from sulfur and helium and argon
on the day an alien sun died,
it found its way here.
in white specks it wandered
the gaseous seas
before the first water droplets,
before the first sand grains.

did it come via other teeth, other bones?

Chemical Elements Poems 7: Fourteen Atoms, Twenty Seconds

It is out there, apparently
if just for seconds at a time.
All of our accelerators' prime
technicians have contrived
fourteen atoms worth
to study.

Lucky number one-thirteen
in the lucky thirteenth group.
From a high energy soup
of californium and neptunium
it forms
before it will decay.

Perhaps one day
they'll name it,
Japonium or Rikenium,
Becquelerium.
Sic transit gloria,
twenty seconds worth of atom.

Chemical Elements Poems 6: 27 Lines About Molybdenum

I like the way molybdenum
sounds and looks.
The word, I mean. 
I've not seen molybdenum in person
nor heard it.
Not that I know what it would
sound like.
It's a metal, so I'd guess it'd
go clang or something
if you whacked it against a desk
or hit it with a hammer.

Since it's harder than iron or steel,
you might want to use
someone else's hammer
if you do hit it.

Molybdenum means lead
which is a bit confusing since
it's not lead.  Lead is something else.
It was also confused with graphite
though nobody made pencils out of it
that I know of. 
I admit I haven't researched that part much.

Too much molybdenum causes gout,
infertility, and diarrhea.
It is, however better than too much lead.
Regardless,
it is unlikely you'll get too much molybdenum.