Mercury (9)


Mercury

I move as silver water with a purpose
once I am released from my vault of cinnabar
You named me after a fast god and his planet
and then dared to catch me if you can

You thought I was First
the Adam of all Matter
and like that original man
all was myth

Early on you used me to bring health and beauty
not knowing those were the very things I take
Later you accused me of deforming your children’s minds
and destroying your elders’s lungs
from inside a cocktail dagger
yet of both I am blameless

Now you flex your understanding of me properly
seeing your Peles’s sending me into the air with their eruptions
and brush geniuses coloring the towns they see red with me

April 17, 2011
Tressa Lee Breen

My Notes & Research Tools:

Heavy, silvery white
Hydrargyrum: hydra-watery, argyros-silver
Liquid at standard conditions for temperature/pressure, liquid at or near room temperature/pressure
In deposits mostly as cinnabar (mercuric sulfide), which is source of red pigment Vermilion - cinnabar toxic ingestion/inhalation of dust
Mercury poisoning exposure to water soluble forms, inhalation of vapor, seafood contamination. 
Was used in thermometers and paint until recently. 
Float valves, electrical switches, barometers, manometers, dental restoration, lighting.
Poor conductor heat, fair conductor electricity.
Iron flasks used traditionally to trade mercury.
Not allowed on aircraft because of risk of forming an amalgam w/ exposed aluminium parts of aircraft
China/Tibet: used to prolong life, heal fractures, maintain good health.
Egyptians/Romans: cosmetics often caused deformities
Greeks: ointments
Alchemists: mercury first matter from which all metals were formed, believed metals could be formed by varying quality/quantity of sulfer contained in mercury
Only metal which planetary name became common name
Named after Roman god known for speed/mobility
Volcanic eruptions responsible for half atmospheric emissions
Thimersol/vaccine/autism pseudo-link 
Mercury on Wikipedia

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