Chemical Elements Poems 19: U before O

One short of

perfect ten,

its disposition can be rather 

negative.

Fittingly born in

(and borne on)

stellar flows,

it made martyrs of many

as it found their

precious bodily fluids.

We worried

it would steal our ozone,

but it helps 

coat our pans and our teeth.

Chemical Elements Poems 18: Ointments and Amalgams

Eternal life did not come

to Qin Shi Huang Di.

The first matter was his last,

and messengers of silver water

would only bring company in misery,

not alchemy.

Ointments and amalgams,

you don't need a thermometer

to know how mad the hatter is.

Chemical Elements Poems 17: Doubly Magical

Iron-loving, core-dwelling.

Born of silicon and iron,

blamed on the devil and

doubly magical.

Hitchhiking here

in the scattered remains

of violence,

If all Earth's supply were a dollar

less than a penny

would be in the crust,

much less five cents.

Chemical Elements Poems 16: Bituminous and Emerald Cut

Carbon does not
deserve a poem
but a book of poetry
bituminous and emerald cut
by standard #2. 

Black and white,
clear,
animal and vegetable,
virus and fungus.
Life as we know it
and life we have yet to know.

The redwoods are made
of the carbon we exhale,
breath becomes wood
before leaf becomes muscle.

It has helped make
Venus' hell
and it coats the
poles of Mars
Not just a girl's
best friend
but all of ours.

Chemical Elements Poems 15: I Have a Degree in Science

I have a degree in science
and I like to think
I'm educated,
but damn
if I could
tell you anything
about scandium.

If I said
it turns blue on exposure
to water
or it's used as an alloy
in baseball bats
or that it's interchangeable
with yttrium
in the mineral thortveitite
would you know better?

If you'd asked me before
I just looked it up
I wouldn't even have
guaranteed
it's actually an element and not
something made up
to sound like an element.

Seriously.

Chemical Elements Poems 14: None has higher density

Metals have a propensity
toward quite high density
but none has higher density than this.
And if you ever get the yen
you'll find it in the nib of your pen
(where it is quite easy to miss).

Toxic and named for its smell,
perhaps it is just as well
it's only parts per trillion in the crust.
You may or may not be surprised
to find it octup'ly ionized,
but try to avoid it if it's ground to dust.

Chemical Elements Poems 13: Dominating Lesser Airs

Noxious air, and lifeless
flame-killer.
Yet it abides us here,
content to dominate lesser airs
and put bubbles in our stouts,
one part in fifty of our
lively bodies.

Liquid, it removes our warts,
enables our superconductors,
and cools our cameras
so our telescopes can see it,
Solid
on the surfaces of Triton and Pluto.