Thursday, November 18, 2021

Elemental

If the human condition were the periodic table, maybe love would be hydrogen at No. 1. Death would be helium at No. 2. Power, I reckon, would be where oxygen is.
~David Mitchell


We make a Thanksgiving Tree poster every year where we write things we're thankful for, like each other, our neighbors, our pets, tea, coffee, functioning kidneys, infrastructure, good pharmacists, vaccines, classes, car repair, Poetry Friday. There's a lot to be thankful for, and when it gets right down to it, the periodic table covers it all. Right?? I mean, I can't tell you how glad I am for carbon and don't get me started about oxygen.

Mary Soon Lee's Elemental haiku, a poetic periodic table on the AAAS's Science.org, is so fun. Maybe you've seen the table before, but her haiku bear revisiting. A sample:



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Beyond Literacy Link has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Carol!

12 comments:

Linda B said...

Oh my, Tabatha, this is new to me & I want to 'mix' right in. The haiku are terrific, some ominous like "their radiant child" & the one that frightens - cannot quite shake/your poisonous snake." Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

skanny17 said...

Oh I am with Linda B. and this is intriguing. So much richness here and a way to bring this table more to life! I know I would have had an easier time thinking of Haiku and the meaning of each element along with the science. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Poetry!!
Janet Clare F.

Bridget Magee said...

He He He (laughing gas)
Thanks for the poetic chemical reaction, Tabatha. :)

Ruth said...

These are amazing!

author amok said...

Ooh -- I love the arsenic haiku. So clever. Hope you and the family are doing okay, Tabatha. Thinking about you all.

Margaret Simon said...

Elemental and amazing! Too much science for my Friday brain to handle. But I want to come back to it! Happy Thanksgiving!

Tim Kulp said...

The period table monument is so cool. I've never seen that before. The elemental poems were also really fun. I shared with my science loving daughter and she thought they were funny. Thanks!

Carol Varsalona said...

What a fun post, Tabatha! I really enjoyed the #ChemHaiku poems. They are a great combination of literacy and science.I also love your Thanksgiving family idea. Have a wonderful TDay.

jama said...

Love these (and that monument to the periodic table is so cool)!

Karen Edmisten said...

These are so clever. You find the best stuff, Tabatha.
We, too, are so grateful for so many of the things you listed.
Happy Thanksgiving!

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Michelle Kogan said...

Hey Tabatha, these are fun in all their various shades and colors, I especially like the Arsenic haiku. Hope all is well by you and your family. I'm very thankful that a blood test of mine came back within the normal range–my modified food diet is working, Yay! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!