Best Proteins Poems
His fragile limbs in a caged body
seeking proteins from ivy drips
vulnerable fears hushed by whirring darkness
paranoia draped in wavering existence of malady
sea of sick humans hanging like leaves from willow
mitigated by prayers of angels in white coats
yet lowered pulse rate in hopeful daylight
but his sumptuous mind holds the key to freedom
in deepest slumber his twisted cage breaks free
arising hopes float in ropes of subconscious mist
his smiling shadow traces whispers of memories
he sways his brittle fingers in ecstasy
shapes of smoke growing as titans in silence
his love is a ghost that the others can't see
exploding stars in topaz lit utopia paint
charcoal brush adorning sparkling bristles of love
colourful patterns on canvas of blank memory
flashing waves entrancing visions of kisses alight
blankets of amnesia in existence but he dances
on a hustling vintage platform emerging in fog
breeze in his red shirt chasing scarlet sunsets
he boards a crimson wagon longing for a journey
holding roses for Aphrodite in the land of swans
simmering in flashes of blooming glitters.
Rising dawn clicks the buttons in his mind
blank memories, ivy drips lock him away
in a caged body his fragile limbs rest
nobody knows he visits a soothing paradise
fog curls under his pillow in deep oceans
till slithering hazy sapphire nights arrive
July 20, 2020
Delirium Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Kai Michael Neumann
~Premiere Contest Winner: 1st Place
Another morning gone. The warp and weft
of kids and errands seems a sort of theft.
I love to listen to the phone-in show,
Peoria Euphoria K Seven, Illinois,
the kind of thing that housewives can enjoy -
Andrea Doria, Eva Longoria -
but parents don’t have rights. I’ve got to go.
Another morning spent. The spare room painted.
I poured the soup away, since it was tainted.
He mixed his caustic soda in the bowl,
with Pennsylvania always on his mind
(Bryn Mawr mainliner – guess you know the kind –)
Brainier, mania, Lusitania
and wiped it once around with kitchen roll.
Another morning done. The suit dry-cleaned.
A neighbourhood committee’s been convened.
Initial meet – the Wilsons’ brand new deck –
how was it financed? Heaven only knows.
Seaworthy credit? Like the Mary Rose!
Wegmans, Wayfair, Wakefern, Wickes …
(Let’s hope the builders wait to cash the check).
Another morning over. Turkey basted.
Last night, the almond cupcakes went untasted.
I don’t know why I go to all the trouble –
they raid the fridge for fudge and mayonnaise:
don’t call it eating. Kids today just graze.
Athletic greens, soya beans, proteins –
I sometimes think I’m living in a bubble.
Another morning down. The carpet hoovered.
The garbage bin unemptied, outmanouvered.
It looks so comfy, nestled in its cleft.
The city elders park outside their own,
so why can’t we? Is this a yellow zone?
Organic waste, paper chased, cadmium-laced.
Another morning gone. How many left?
Hormones make the Endocrine System work
They’re always around, they always lurk.
And they do so many things
And to the body the blood always brings
So many chemicals all over abound
Each only binds to specific receptors found.
Sometimes they’re high, sometimes they’re low
And hormones always absolutely go
Via the blood until it finds,
Its special receptor, where it binds.
And no matter what you think you knew
There’s only five things they generally do.
Membrane potential, a hormone can alter,
And so a cell’s function will never falter.
When they alter membrane potentials we know
And that always means information will flow.
Protein synthesis, too, gets involved
And making large molecules soon gets resolved.
They can cause proteins synthesis in the cell
By turning on genes that work so well.
Enzyme modifications are also the norms
They can activate second messenger forms.
And when it does, it can certainly cause,
Enzyme activity or enzyme pause.
Secretions, too, the cell will spit out,
Due to the hormone, because of its clout.
And what is the importance of what the hormones’ issues
These cells spew out substances to affect other tissues.
Then there’s the last, reproductive in nature
Mitosis and meiosis, both important in stature.
Both types of cell division are obviously affected,
Another example of hormones, reflected.
Inside Out
The mighty mitochondria make ATP,
Without which there’d be no you or no me.
From glucose, bonds break and energy flows,
Through various molecules, energy goes.
From foods that you once eventually ate,
ADP gets another phosphate.
It can reproduce when only one,
(But all by itself, that can’t be much fun.)
The round DNA in them that is found,
Is the same as bacteria that today are around.
But it still retains its original way,
And replicates with its own DNA.
Ribosomes also, like bacteria’s of course.
Of their proteins, they are the source.
The ribosomes that it uses to make its protein,
Are just like bacteria’s, when close up are seen.
And these proteins, they are very old,
Like those of bacteria, so we are told.
Two membranes it has and the problems that posed,
Until the thought, it was once phagocytosed.
The bacterium was phagocytized, no lysosome engaged,
They started living together with no one enraged.
And because at the start, the lysosome did fail,
Now two membranes remain to suggest this tale.
And so it is true,
With chloroplasts too.
The same type of tale,
Just not being pale.
These are plain green,
And easily seen.
From sunlight and carbon they make a compound,
That their mitochondria can then break down.
For their mitochondria work just the same,
To make ATP, the name of the game.
Endosymbiosis is the name of the game,
Many people don’t get it and that’s a real shame.
It’s more than just two things living together,
It made them both quite different and better.
A few billion years past, both were living,
A cell and bacterium, each one giving.
What does it matter, why do we care?
Because with endosymbiosis, evolution does share.
The bacterium had talent in making ATP,
And became mitochondria in both you and me.
Dairy foods are excellent sources of calcium
Phosphorus: This is an important mineral in bones, teeth and a part of every cell in the body
Riboflavin: This vitamin supports normal vision and healthy skin. It’s important to the production of energy in your body
Protein: This nutrient builds and repairs body tissues
Magnesium: This mineral is important in building healthy bones and teeth. It’s also
important in muscle contractions and nerve impulses
vitamin A: This is an important vitamin in maintaining healthy eyes and skin. It is also important in bone and tooth growth
Vitamin B6: This vitamin helps make red blood cells and helps build proteins in your body
Vitamin b12: This vitamin prevents anemia and helps maintain healthy nerve cells
Vitamin D: This vitamin helps maintain calcium and phosphorus for healthy bones. Milk provides appreciable amounts of vitamin D
If you were paying attention, you may have noticed calcium missing from that list. That’s because the following poem is devoted to the benefits of calcium (and what happens to your body if you don’t get enough of it)
Rules: Use at least 10 candy names from those listed below.
(30 candy names used)
Tomorrow we'll explore our Galaxy,
not just by space ship, but with 'space nerds' too!
We smarties, gifted Mike and Ike, with me,
will start our marathon and journey through
the Milky Way, where now and later we'll
be called 'Three Musketeers', the best, bar none,
to capture live a star burst with great zeal,
or see sno-caps on spheres far from the sun.
We bet each other a full 100 grand,
that we'll make history on this space spree;
discover whoppers, things we beforehand
knew zero 'bout those sites we couldn't see.
We're on a rocky road, since asteroids
can put an end to pay day...must take 5,
and watch our every move like paranoids,
not air heads, if we want to stay alive.
We'll take along some good Boston Baked Beans
with hot tamales and Ike's Charleston Chew,
a snack his mom bakes filled with good proteins;
and frozen Swedish fish will please us too.
Okay, we're off to Club 5th Avenue
for a good meal before we board for flight.
The Jolly Rancher hamburg, or Dots stew,
are lifesavers to please our appetite
before we're stuck with whatchamacallit
food, Mr. Goodbar, cook, packed up to go.
Goodbye for now...from sunlit to starlit,
please wish us mounds of luck from down below.
Sandra M. Haight
~5th Place~
Contest: 'Screwed XIX
Sponsor: Rob Carmack
Judged: 01/02/2019
Candy Bar Words To Use (choose 10)
Dove, Chunky,100 Grand, Bar None, Galaxy, Marathon, Milky Way, Mounds, Mr. Good Bar, Pay Day, Rocky Road, Skor, Snickers, Take 5, Whatchamacallit, Zero, Skittles, Jolly Rancher, Starburst, Smarties, Three Musketeers, Tootsie Roll, Kit Kat, Air Heads, Boston Baked Beans, Charleston Chew, Dots, Hot Tamales, Lemonheads, Nerds, Slo Poke, Sno-Caps, Spree, O Henry, Whoppers, Swedish Fish, Butterfinger, Lifesavers, 5th Avenue, Mike and Ike, Heath, Goobers, Now and Later
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a word,
as large as the influence it casts upon the Earth.
More precisely, it fits nicely, as an acid, based,
in creatures big and small, it is the blueprint, how they're made.
The RNA is information carried in your genes,
it's found within the DNA that makes up you and me.
A Double Helix is the name of the shapely pattern,
that DNA will tend to make, it resembles a ladder.
The lines on the outside are two and are a crucial glue,
to hold the sides Nucleotides, a sugar phosphate group.
To each of these there are attached a molecule, you see,
Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine,
Every part of you is made of cells you cannot see,
you could say the DNA is like a recipe.
This double helix ladder can easily unwind,
and wind again, it happens every time a cell divides.
Inside a cell, the DNA strands wrap up real close,
and organize into an x, behold, the chromosome!
Eukaryotic organisms like animals and plants,
use the nucleus of cells to store these precious strands.
-Of course there are so many places DNA is found,
Prokaryotes, like bacteria, spread it all around!
RNA is like a copy of a given strand,
and essential for an organism to expand.
In order to expand, the cells will have to split in two,
and once they do, the one that's old will be the same as new.
To achieve this feat a DNA strand must have proteins,
different binds of different kinds can all effect the coding.
DNA has shaped the way all life has evolved,
it is the blueprint, how we're made, creatures big and small.
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a word,
as large as the influence it casts upon the Earth.
It made me what I am, and it made you be you,
now show DNA what YOU'RE made of,
and that you have some big plans to!
A cowpokes life is a rough one and when he draws his monthly pay,
He mounts his hoss and gallops to town to visit the local cabaret.
He scrubs the manure from his boots and dons a decent pair of jeans,
Hopin' to find some tolerable grub instead of bacon, biscuits and beans!
He spends his days herdin' ornery longhorns and fixin' barbed wire fences,
Ridin' in nasty weather and eatin' dust 'til he nearly loses his senses!
Fer all of this he expects some decent grub at the end of ever' day,
But Cooky dispenses bacon, biscuits and beans the same as yesterday!
Chuck is served up on battered tin plates and tin cups fer slurpin' joe,
And if'n you don't like it, Cooky is mighty quick to tell ya where to go!
The fellers complain to the trail boss but it don't do a damn bit of good.
He tells 'em, "If'n you don't like it here, find yerself another livelihood!"
At the cabaret he's confounded by the chinaware and fancy silverware,
And instead of sittin' on the ground to eat, he sits on a rickety chair!
He consumes a colossal steak with sweet peas and smashed pertaters,
A couple of beers and a salad of onions, lettuce and fresh termaters.
He and his old cayuse slowly meander back to the ranch to hit the hay,
But he'll return to the cabaret next month when he collects his meager pay.
He savored his scrumptious meal of countless calories and proteins,
'Cause he knows that tomorrow he'll be eatin' bacon, biscuits and beans!
Robert L. Hinshaw, CMSgt, USAF, Retired
Your significance in every chapter of me goes beyond
the wonderful art of a creator or the expectations from a deity.
I feel your fatherly soft palms on my waiting back
like a child in need of a superior support.
Such favour you render is like a broad road
with multiple lanes without any pedestrian crossing.
From my existence as proteins to my current status
there’s no single room for me to boast.
I’ve tried to record the doings of my accord
then I realize, with high-heels, I’m just chasing a ghost.
My lips take extra jobs in supplications to you
but from your praises to your rewards,
it’s an easy crossover of a thin coast.
My burdens are turned to appreciation through thanksgiving
then your hand of power reaches me faster than any post.
You essentially meet my needs in raw flesh
and still prepare them for my enjoyment through a sweet roast.
Despite my frequent unfaithfulness and disobedience
your grace and love on me are constantly making a toast.
How great is your compassion and how enduring your mercies;
your adoration and praises from now on, my soul will host.
Lynn Margulis is perhaps most remembered as the wife of Carl Sagan
Expected to be wife, mother, companion and last of all - scientist
But Lynn Margulis, under Sagan’s basket, would not hide
Her light would shine – Call it a Woman’s Pride?
A radical with a cause who forsook
The path that other’s took
Stood tall in defending evolution
But not theories proposed by some.
Perhaps a doppelgänger had invested her body and mind
For there was no one else (like her) of equal kind.
She had visions and could see
What’s obscured to the likes of you and me.
In the biological world, chaos reigned
How to bring peace to this troubled kingdom?
Milestones of Abiotic synthesis of DNA, RNA, proteins,
Reproduction and photosynthesis had long sense past.
But how could evolution render life,
That would be past on to generations more.
She envisioned an organism evolving
That included means for mystery solving.
Life’s turmoil required a need for energy
Free from the sun’s erratic glow
She proposed a solution
To evolution’s problem.
A mother cell could replicate with a whim.
Containing an energy dynamo
That would fuel the cell
Based on ATP generated within.
Margulis found in bacteria of another sort
Where conversion of chemicals occurred
To ensure synthesis and reproduction.
Ingest those cells whole and make them dependent in addition.
Give up chloroplast dependent on the sun
To make the system run
And convert life giving chemicals within.
Evolution of Man had begun.
Mitochondria!
The phospholipid membrane
has a rhythm to it;
integral proteins interrupt,
but vesicles slide through it.
It's fluid, wavy, effortless;
Ziploc can't compare
to technology in biology.
Machines don't craft with care.
Its oscillating phosphorus
and swaying lipid tails
put on a micro-spectacle
for those minds that flail.
The beat of homeostasis,
kept constant by diffusion,
depends upon the bilayer,
which is a clear illusion.
Thank You Sally
For almost 30 years I’ve been trying to loose this weight,
So obviously, I have been putting all the wrong food on to my plate.
I have tried almost every diet that has ever been invented,
Slimming book after slimming book I have read,
Atkins, Low carbohydrates, High Proteins to name but a few,
Even the F Plan that keeps you on the loo,
The High protein almost drove me to drink,
The Atkins is supposed to make your breath stink,
The Body Clock was extremely hard to do,
Having to eat more than half of your food before two,
Then I reached the point where I didn’t really care,
Food was turning into a complete nightmare,
I was just getting bigger and bigger,
There was nothing left of my figure,
I looked more like Mr Blobby,
Eating my lettuce leaves that had all gone soggy,
Then I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in my life,
To see if they could sort out all this strife,
There I met a lady who filled me with inspiration Sally was her name,
Helping us all to loose weight was her aim,
Sally was there through the good and the bad,
Although some weeks I felt extremely sad,
When I had gained a pound or two,
Stuffing my face with chocolate because of a blew,
On December the 17th 2010 when we broke up for Christmas,
I made my resolution, to come back after the break weighing less,
I bet my husband £3.00 that I would,
I was going to do this, if I could,
So I came back, after Christmas and new Year,
Two and a half lbs lighter, Santa brought me some new gear,
Now only a few more lbs to go,
Then my whole new shape will be on show,
So thank you Sally for all the help you gave me,
Tonight I reached Goal, now I am the weight I want to be.
v
Thank You Sally
For almost 30 years I’ve been trying to loose this weight,
So obviously, I have been putting all the wrong food on to my plate.
I have tried almost every diet that has ever been invented,
Slimming book after slimming book I have read,
Atkins, Low carbohydrates, High Proteins to name but a few,
Even the F Plan that keeps you on the loo,
The High protein almost drove me to drink,
The Atkins is supposed to make your breath stink,
The Body Clock was extremely hard to do,
Having to eat more than half of your food before two,
Then I reached the point where I didn’t really care,
Food was turning into a complete nightmare,
I was just getting bigger and bigger,
There was nothing left of my figure,
I looked more like Mr Blobby,
Eating my lettuce leaves that had all gone soggy,
Then I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in my life,
To see if they could sort out all this strife,
There I met a lady who filled me with inspiration Sally was her name,
Helping us all to loose weight was her aim,
Sally was there through the good and the bad,
Although some weeks I felt extremely sad,
When I had gained a pound or two,
Stuffing my face with chocolate because of a blew,
On December the 17th 2010 when we broke up for Christmas,
I made my resolution, to come back after the break weighing less,
I bet my husband £3.00 that I would,
I was going to do this, if I could,
So I came back, after Christmas and new Year,
Two and a half lbs lighter, Santa brought me some new gear,
Now only a few more lbs to go,
Then my whole new shape will be on show,
So thank you Sally for all the help you gave me,
Tonight I reached Goal, now I am the weight I want to be.
v
My recent encounter, an annual checkup
with blood tests and pressure, my height against weight
are all carried out to check my bits are working
and put back the time where I cross Heaven's gate.
I could tell porky pies* and thus possibly fiddle
the whole diagnosis and how it turned out
but the cholesterol count, and the flab round the middle
meant the nurse wasn't fooled and results held no doubts.
I've got to cut down on the red meats like bacon,
and white meat like chicken has proteins and fat
I thought cheese was OK, but no, I was mistaken
and pastries and biscuits? Forget about that.
So into the future, a healthier lifestyle
me confident now all the boxes are ticked,
you'll spot me, no ignoring the pale looking,boring
guy sat on his own with a celery stick.
( *Porky pies- 'Lies' . Cockney rhyming slang)
Spiders – Arachnids
From the tiny pinhead Samoan Moss spider
To the huge Tarantula with legs spreading wider
Exists a diverse and interesting creature
With many a color and many a feature
Comparing ounce by ounce with steel
A spider’s silk is much stronger and real
Made up of proteins, natures building blocks
That can absorb even the most violent shocks
Honey Bees – Apoidea
These amazing insects with incredible ability
From honey production to their communal civility
As the dance and waggle to show direction
Towards nectar and pollen for their collection
Using the sun as a reference for flight
Seeing with their eyes the ultraviolet light
Carrying their loads on electrostatic legs
Back to the hive for their larvae and eggs
Leaf Cutting Ants – Apoidea
These small busy insects with dynamic strength
That can carry a leaf five times its length
Way underground, into chambered nest
With vigor and vitality and so much zest
To lay down these leaves to feed its batch
Of harvest fungus in their garden patch
They can carry a load thirty times their weight
And build a mound that is mighty and great
Butterflies – Lepidoptera
These angelic creatures with iridescent wings
Of overlapping scales in patterns and rings
From egg to caterpillar its, first life stages
And then to chrysalis where it rests and ages
To emerge one day so transformed
So utterly beautiful, so perfectly formed
To flutter by in colorful flight
And onto a flower, there alight