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Arsenic (#033) edited for the “Poetry Saloon at Noon” feature at the Chicago Cultural Center 1/30//13 Janet Kuypers from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series Poisonous Arsenic is used in paints, dyes, metals, drugs, soaps, even animal feeding operations. We seem to hunt down ways to kill ourselves, don’t we. Dukes to Kings were poisoned with Arsenic... Impressionist painters painted with Arsenic-laced Emerald Green paint, which caused diabetes and blindness. Then I heard NASA announce that Arsenic-based life forms were discovered on Earth. But how could something that kills actually help produce life? Now, in order for life to exist, we need six elements: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Well, NASA scientists checked if any bacterium could ever live in an Arsenic-flooded environment. So they went to Mono Lake, California, to see if anything could thrive there, with a surplus of salts and excesses of Arsenic. So NASA pulled phosphorus from that elemental sextet of life, and lo and behold, a minute species used Arsenic instead of phosphorus there. And at Mono Lake, it thrived there quite nicely. (So I suppose NASA found even more bizarre life in California than we were used to...) Darwinism may show that species can adapt to survive — because who knows, Arsenic in place of phosphorus on Earth may date back to the origin of life, where it may have occurred in arsenic-rich hydrothermal vents. I don’t know if we want to create Arsenic life forms here on Earth, but knowing this is possible increases the probability of finding life elsewhere in the universe. And it’s nice to know that we’re looking at all possibilities when looking for what is ultimately good to find life in this universe.

Download the free chapbook with this poem of the 2012 Poetry Bomb, with the Periodic Table of Poetry poems.

Watch the YouTube video of this Kuypers reading the poem live 1/26/13 on Chicago’s WZRD 88.3 FM radio (Canon), with music from the HA!Man of South Africa (2011 Hotel music “the Ice is Melting”)

See YouTube video 1/26/13 of Kuypers reading 8 Periodic Table poems (including this poem) on Chicago’s WZRD 88.3 FM radio (Canon), with the HA!Man of South Africa’s 2011 Hotel music the Ice is Melting playing

See YouTube video 1/26/13 of Kuypers reading 8 Periodic Table poems (including this poem) on Chicago’s WZRD 88.3 FM radio (Samsung), with the HA!Man of South Africa’s 2011 Hotel music the Ice is Melting playing

Watch this YouTube video of this “Periodic Table of Poetry” poem read live in Chicago 1/30/13 (Canon) at her feature Poetry Saloon at Noon

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading her “Periodic Table” poems, including this one, live in her Chicago 1/30/13 feature Poetry Saloon at Noon, with background music from the HA!Man of South Africa’ “Wayward Waltz of the Fractured Wind”

Download this poem in the free chapbook the Poetry Saloon at Noon, w/ the Periodic Table of Poetry poems chapbook of poems in this show.

Arsenic Janet Kuypers from the “Periodic Table of Poetry” series 4/24/12 Arsenic. Just the name sounds poisonous. I know it’s an element in the Periodic Table, but this odorless, tasteless demon can work its way into our water and eventually kill us from the inside out. And the thing is, Arsenic occurs naturally everywhere, and we even use this poison as a wood preservative, it’s even used in paints, dyes, metals, drugs, soaps. And even more frightening for all you meat eaters, high arsenic levels are in animal feeding operations. We seem to hunt down ways to kill ourselves, don’t we. I read about Arsenic poisoning and Napoleon’s death. Breathing it in or ingesting it, Dukes to Kings were poisoned... Even impressionist painters used the pigment Emerald Green which contained Arsenic, causing diabetes, blindness, neurological disorders. Scary stuff, this Arsenic. So then I heard NASA announce that Arsenic-based life forms were discovered on Earth. Strange stuff, this Arsenic. I mean, how could something that kills actually help produce life? How could this happen? Okay, go back to my science book: in order for life to exist, we need these six elements: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. So, where does Arsenic fit into the picture? Well, it looks like NASA scientists were trying to see if any bacterium could ever live in an Arsenic-flooded environment. So they went to Mono Lake, California, to see if anything could thrive with a surplus of salts and excesses of Arsenic. So, in that elemental sextet of life, they pulled out phosphorus, to see what any bacteria species might do. Lo and behold, the extremophilic species GFAJ-1 just decided to use Arsenic instead of phosphorus, and with all the Arsenic around them, the bacteria thrived quite well. And the name “GFAJ-1” actually stands for “Give Felisa a Job”. Really. So I guess it’s not hard to believe that in their search they we able to find even more bizarre life in California than we were used to. And Mono Lake has always had a productive ecosystem. And many bacteria can tolerate the high levels of arsenic, or even take it in their cells. But they just now proved, that when starved of phosphorus, some species could even grow with Arsenic. Hmmm. Perplexing stuff, this Arsenic. I don’t know if we want to create Arsenic life forms here on Earth, but knowing this is possible increases the probability of finding life elsewhere in the universe. Spooky stuff, this Arsenic. And who knows, Arsenic in place of phosphorus on Earth may date back to the origin of life, where it may have occurred in arsenic-rich hydrothermal vents. Fascinating, this speculating about Arsenic. And Darwinism may show that species can adapt to survive — I mean, we have found that bacteria can adapt to artificially stringent environmental conditions. And who knows, maybe the NASA claim that arsenic had been incorporated into the backbone of DNA is not ultimately true, I mean, Arsenic just stepped in for the missing phosphorous, so there may be no Arsenic in the DNA at all. So give NASA a break, they’re trying... Because scientifically supported statements or not, it’s nice to know that we’re looking at all possibilities when looking for what is ultimately good for life in this universe.

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