You are ravens-head,
lampblack.
I am powdered ash, white stone,
goldenrod.

Together we make a circuit,
halo-haze, coiled spring, resin-ground.

You are obsidian,
lava-ground, jet-stone.
I am cindered-flowers, dry marigold,
sandalwood, sweet smoke.

You are inscriber, chalk-marker,
Graphite-sewn.
I am worked-on, cinder-prone,
Soapstone.

(older poem, elg 2010)

dictionary of alchemy

Absorbent Earth: chlk, marble, and clays. no specific formulas. generally carbonates, silicates, and sulphates.

Acesunt: any substance which is slightly acid, or turning sour.

Acid of Ants: Formic acid

Acid of Amber: Succine acid

Acid of Apples: Malic acid

Alembic: a type of distillation apparatus

Bezoar: a counter-poison or antidote, especially a stony calculus from an animal’s stomach

Bismuth corne

Bittern: Liquor remaining after salt-boiling; a solution containing Magnesium salts and bromides from the preparation of salt from sea-water by evaporation

Bitter Earth: Magnesium oxide or carbonate

Bitter Salt: Magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts)

Bitter Spar: “Dolomite”—Calcium and Magnesium Carbonate

Bitumens: an amorphous grouping of resinous and petroleum products: crude oil, amber, asphaltum, coal

Cucubit: the lower part of an alembic. shorter, more squat and ovoid than a matrass.

Damps: any dangerous vapors in caves, mines, etc.