Radioactive Skłodowska

Ruth Aylett

My cookery book
still too hot to hold,
my papers in a lead box.

I gave you the word
for the real but unseen,
penetrating the body;

irradiating mine from
the test tubes in my pocket,
the glow in my desk drawer.

Never mere to myself,
but for them - that woman, 
irreligious, too clever by half,

and much too Polish;
until dead 
with poisoned blood,

when they made me an icon.
But give me my full name:
Maria Skłodowska Curie.

The Science

Maria Skłodowska Curie did not know about the destructive effects of radioactivity on the body and routinely interacted with her samples. She died of leukaemia as a result. She also fought bias against women in science (and antisemitism, and Poles) for almost her whole life.

The Poet

Ruth Aylett teaches and researches computing in Edinburgh. She has published widely in magazines and anthologies - including The North, Prole, Interpreter’s House, Agenda, Envoi, Southbank Poetry, Scotia Extremis, and Umbrellas of Edinburgh. She is the joint author of Handfast (Mother’s Milk, 2016), and her first single-author pamphlet, Pretty in Pink (4Word), is due out in 2021. For more, please visit her website.

Next poem: Science as Theatre by Manan Bhan