Au
Michael J. Leach
I.
Our embodied minds have barely begun to imagine the scale of those cosmic explosions that wrenched the most precious & malleable of metals into existence. Astrophysicists postulate that, at uncertain coordinates in space-time, an unknown number of colossal celestial bodies—fast-spinning stars called collapsar and magneto rotational supernovae—each collapsed & blasted outward with the fiery energy of half a century of suns to forge, through nuclear fusion, a series of previously non-existent elements heavier than ferrum: elements such as aurum. Geochemists theorise that aurum atoms traversed the Universe amidst early clouds of stardust & late showers of meteorites, reaching our Solar System sequentially. The older aurum fell in love with ferrum & sank to the core of a warmly forming planet known aeons later as Earth. The younger aurum crashed & settled in crust & mantle, staying near Earth’s surface.
II.
Our embodied minds have barely begun to imagine the fully fleshed-out facts of the glittery history of terrestrial aurum, as told & untold by generations of historians:
the discovery of rich deposits in continents beyond Europe
the exportation of exhumed gold to European empires
the invention of gold-based monetary systems
the manufacture of golden clothes for monarchs
the golden decoration of all manner of art
the efforts wasted on, & knowledge salvaged from, alchemy
the exploitation of First Nations people’s golden resources
the industrial/medical/gastronomical/ornamental uses of gold
the gold plating of unused records & awards
the multifarious uses of traditional & digital currencies
the global maldistribution of our homeworld’s wealth
the environmental & societal scars left by avarice.
Terrestrial aurum has long since begun to exhaust our homeworld & ourselves.
III.
Our embodied minds
still subconsciously strive
to shift focus from without
to within,
to dig
deep
d
o
w
n
in search of whatever
precious & malleable
metals
have been meta-
physically deposited
in the murky
depths
of our earthly selves.
The Science
The title of this poem, ‘Au’, refers to the chemical symbol for the 79th element in the periodic table: gold. Au is an abbreviation of the Latin word for gold: aurum. The first section of this poem—the prose poetry section—describes the science underlying the creation of gold as well as several of gold’s properties. I obtained this scientific information from various sources, including my high school and university studies in chemistry as well as peer-reviewed physics papers such as this one.
In this first section of the poem, ferrum is the Latin word for the 26th element in the periodic table: iron. The second section of this poem – the list poetry section – lists a series of approximately chronological facts about the history of gold from a societal perspective, including the negative impacts of colonisation and avarice (e.g. desire for the rarest metal, gold) on First Nations peoples and the natural environment. I obtained this historical and sociological information from sources such as The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair. The third section of this poem – the free verse section – moves beyond science, history and sociology into the realm of philosophy, specifically metaphysics.
The Poet
Michael J. Leach is an Australian pharmacoepidemiologist who lives on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Michael’s poems have appeared in journals such as Cordite, exhibitions such the Antarctic Poetry Exhibition, anthologies like Poetry for the Planet (Litoria Press, 2021), and his two poetry books: Chronicity (MPU, 2020) and Natural Philosophies (RWP, 2022). His poems have also won or been shortlisted/commended in the UniSA Mental Health and Wellbeing Poetry Competition, Minds Shine Bright Confidence Writing Competition, Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, and Woollahra Digital Literary Award. During 2024, Michael will publish two new poetry books through ICOE Press and Ginninderra Press.
Next poem: Blue by Tim O’Hare