[the Writing of Kuypers]    [JanetKuypers.com]    [Bio]    [Poems]    [Prose]


video
See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Like I was Never There” and “The Things Warren Says” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, plus her poem “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” live 6/23/18 at Austin#8217;s “Recycled Reads(this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video
See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Like I was Never There” and “The Things Warren Says” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, plus her poem “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” live 6/23/18 at Austin#8217;s “Recycled Reads(from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; Hue Cycling filter).
video
See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Like I was Never There” and “The Things Warren Says” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, plus her poem “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” live 6/23/18 at Austin#8217;s “Recycled Reads(this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video
See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Like I was Never There” and “The Things Warren Says” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, plus her poem “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” live 6/23/18 at Austin#8217;s “Recycled Reads(from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; Cyan Tone filter).
video See YouTube video in Austin of Janet Kuypers reading her “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry” book poems “For Far Too Many Years” (which was also read from the cc&d 1-6 2019 issue collection book “a Revolution of Modern Life”), plus “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta”, “Brittle”, “Meningitis, Six Feet Under”, and “Bamboo”, while she was guest-hosting the “Open Mic Showcase 8/17/19 at Recycled Reads(video filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video See YouTube video in Austin of Janet Kuypers reading her “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry” book poems “For Far Too Many Years” (which was also read from the cc&d 1-6 2019 issue collection book “a Revolution of Modern Life”), plus “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta”, “Brittle”, “Meningitis, Six Feet Under”, and “Bamboo”, while she was guest-hosting the “Open Mic Showcase 8/17/19 at Recycled Reads(video filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Evil is Tricky”, “popular and useless”, and “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” from the Scars Publications 2/22 v192 issue of Down in the Dirt, “And I Disappear” 2/2/22 on the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 PM CST during the usual time for the “Community Poetry” open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Evil is Tricky”, “popular and useless”, and “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” from the Scars Publications 2/22 v192 issue of Down in the Dirt, “And I Disappear” 2/2/22 on the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 PM CST during the usual time for the “Community Poetry” open mic (this video was filmed and streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera with a lava flow filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Lanthanum: the shoulders of giants” (+ shared the image from the online release of the poem), “Carbon may have killed the dinosaurs after all” (+ shared the image from the online release of the poem), “Carbon”, “Learning how Love Lasts”, “Evil is Tricky”, “Barium Dateline”, “popular and useless”, “Gold for the foolish at heart ” (+ shared the image from the online release of the poem), and “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” from the Down in the Dirt 1-4/22 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “The Ice that Was” on 7/6/22, the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 PM CST in honor of the “Community Poetry” reading (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuypersperiodictablepoetry #janetkuyperstwitterverseperiodictablepoem
video Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Lanthanum: the shoulders of giants” (+ shared the image from the online release of the poem), “Carbon may have killed the dinosaurs after all” (+ shared the image from the online release of the poem), “Carbon”, “Learning how Love Lasts”, “Evil is Tricky”, “Barium Dateline”, “popular and useless”, “Gold for the foolish at heart ” (+ shared the image from the online release of the poem), and “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta” from the Down in the Dirt 1-4/22 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “The Ice that Was” on 7/6/22, the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 PM CST in honor of the “Community Poetry” reading (this video was filmed and streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera with a b&w Old Film filter). #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuypersperiodictablepoetry #janetkuyperstwitterverseperiodictablepoem
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her v213 11/23 Down in the Dirt issue/book “Distances” poems “Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta”, “quote unquote love for your government” (+ image), & “Meningitis, Six Feet Under” to close her “Poetic License video 11/5/23 global open mic” through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). Also enjoy this as a Facebook live video stream that was filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera with THE REAL GLITCH filter; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr. #janetkuypers #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Xynotyro: It’s Not Ricotta

Janet Kuypers
6/18/18

Doctors found a large ovarian cyst
in a friend of mine, still in her early twenties.

She was scheduled for surgery to remove it,
so the weekend before, I thought she needed

to get away. She needed a pick-me-up,
so we flew to D.C. and stayed with my friend.

Now, my friend worked on the Hill,
he didn’t know my girlfriend, so he just

gave us keys so we’d be on our own.
So we saw the Smithsonian, we toured

the town, took buses from one place
to the next. Now, when this city girl

got on a D.C. bus and sat down, I thought
we’d have a moment of peace,

until a disheveled older black man
walked right over to us to talk.

And the first thing in my head
was that this guy was homeless,

but I’m trapped with him on this bus,
how do I avoid him asking for money?

But there was no escaping him:
he looked us right in our eyes and said,

“Can you help me?” And I didn’t want
to answer, I was out of my element.

But he pulled out a newspaper,
crinkled in his grasp, and he said,

“I’m doing this crossword here, and they want
an eight - no, a seven-letter word for Cheese.

There’s an O and a T, but in the wrong spot....
A kind of Cheese. It’s not Ricotta.

Can you think of any other kind of Cheese?”
Now, I don’t do crossword puzzles,

but I couldn’t even think, and I think
my friend was a little too concerned

for her own safety. So we both just said, “No”,
and he said thanks, and turned to ask

someone else on the bus, and kept repeating it.
“A kind of cheese.” “Seven letters.” “It’s not Ricotta.”

And so we turned back to staring out
the large glass panels of the bus,

trying to soak everything in that we could,
though we could still hear the din

of people talking, and the disheveled man
asking strangers about this crossword clue.

I think I looked over to see him accosting
another woman with his forwardness,

but when he stopped asking, she looked down
and then meekly said, “Cottage?”

And that’s when this disheveled man
turned into a bombastic boisterous behemoth,

thrilled with the one word that he needed.
“Cottage!   Cottage!   It’s Cottage! Thank You!”

And just then the bus slowed down for a stop,
and the man kept repeating the words

as he got off the bus. “Cottage! A seven-letter
word for cheese! Cottage!” And I even watched

him walk down the street as our bus pulled away,
seeing such new animation in this old man’s step.


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.



Like Janet Kuypers’ writing on any of these links below:

Add to Twitter    Add to Facebook    Add to digg    Add to Del.icio.us    Add to Google Bookmarks    Add to Mister Wong    Add to reddit    Add to Stumble Upon    Add to Technorati







my hand to an anim of jkchair



Kuypers at Artvilla


scars publications


Kuypers writing