poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge”, a poem about deciding to do the polar plunge, not where you were from in Chicago, but in Antarctica, and in process waiting to see chinstrap and gentoo penguins and weddell seals and humpback whales and icebergs and glaciers, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge”, then her prosepoem “Hurry up and Wait”written and first performed in her “One Acts” show and read from her performance art poetry book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, then she sang, with John on guitar, the George Michael song “Waiting (Reprise)” live 1/24/17 at “Thirsty Thursday” in Dripping Springs (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge”, then her prose poem “Hurry up and Wait”written and first performed in her “One Acts” show and read from her performance art poetry book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, then she sang, with John on guitar, the George Michael song “Waiting (Reprise)” live 1/24/17 at “Thirsty Thursday” in Dripping Springs (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)”, then John played guitar while she covered “Last Christmas” by Wham!, then John read his poem “It Wasn’t my Intent” while Janet payed his guitar with a bow, then John played his song “I Won’t Say Thank You/What I’ve Been Through” live 12/29/19 at Austin’s “Spoken and Heard” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)”, then John played guitar while she covered “Last Christmas” by Wham!, then John read his poem “It Wasn’t my Intent” while Janet payed his guitar with a bow, then John played his song “I Won’t Say Thank You/What I’ve Been Through” live 12/29/19 at Austin’s “Spoken and Heard” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” (for Polar Bear Plunge Day, 1/1), live 2/8/20 @ “Poetry Aloud” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” (for Polar Bear Plunge Day, 1/1), live 2/8/20 @ “Poetry Aloud” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See the YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Keeps Repeating” and “Language” from cc&d 1/21 v305 book “You Won’t See Me”, then “Plot and Wait” and “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from the Down in the Dirt 1/21 v179 book “a Stretch of Highway” for The Café Gallery 1/5/21 Book Reading in The Café Gallery Book Reading series (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersthecafegallery

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Keeps Repeating” and “Language” from cc&d 1/21 v305 book “You Won’t See Me”, then “Plot and Wait” and “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from the Down in the Dirt 1/21 v179 book “a Stretch of Highway” for The Café Gallery 1/5/21 Book Reading in The Café Gallery Book Reading series (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersthecafegallery

See a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “nonetheless”, “Eighteen and Eight, Plus Eighteen: Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Seen”, “Plot and Wait”, “Old Stomping Grounds”, and “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from the “a Stretch of Highway” section of the Scars Publi cations 1-4 2021 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “Excerpts from the Plague Years” (released 4/15/21), read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “nonetheless”, “Eighteen and Eight, Plus Eighteen: Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Seen”, “Plot and Wait”, “Old Stomping Grounds”, and “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from the “a Stretch of Highway” section of the Scars Publi cations 1-4 2021 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “Excerpts from the Plague Years” (released 4/15/21), read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

Waiting to Take the Plunge

Janet Kuypers
1/23/19
Living in Chicago, I had heard
of the “polar plunge,” in insane idea
to jump into Lake Michigan
at around Christmas or New Year’s,
when there’s a ton of ice floating —
and you might end up floating too —
if you don’t get out of that
ice-cold water. This polar bear plunge
has existed for a century in many
countries globally, some for charity,
but I thought, ‘how silly, I’m sure
a lot of these people just want to
show off their manhood doing this,’
so I always refrained, even when the new
Chicago mayor Rham Emmanuel did it.
I chose to avoid this ritual, I can take
the cold, but I really don’t comprehend
what these people are trying to prove,
so I acted passive and aloof, like I was
above such childish behavior.
But one thing happened that made me
change my mind, I happened to be
visiting a continent I thought I’d never
visit, to photograph icebergs, glaciers,
and wildlife I’ve never seen... in Antarctica.
And that’s when they suggested to me
that I could do the polar plunge there, into
the Southern Ocean. And oddly enough,
I had a swimsuit on this trip, even though
the temperature is only -2.8°C (or 27°F).
Now, I want to tell you, this trip was
amazing, taking small rubber boats
to one island after another. First we
crossed the choppy Drake Passage. Then
we went to Half Moon Island, passing icebergs
to see penguins in their natural habitat.
And yeah, that is cool, but what about
my Polar Plunge into the Southern Ocean?
Oh, stop your complaining, you’ll
have to wait, so we went to Cuverville
Island, “you see, here you can see
both Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins.”
And I thought, well, yeah, sure, that’s
double-plus cool, so I took pictures
with my waterproof camera, and waited.
After leaving there I thought, okay,
where’s my polar plunge?, and they said
“hey, let’s first check out the Weddell Seals
at Enterprise Island.” So I thought, sure,
I can do that, and the ice structures here
are amazing... each island has different
icebergs and glaciers because of the
winds and the global water passages.
But at this point I really thought I’d
waited long enough for my polar plunge,
and that’s when they decided to take us
to mainland Antarctica... (which really is
the penultimate reason for going, no?)
So while waiting there, I went camping
one night (which was freezingly miserable).
But if you’ll be docking at Paradise
harbor to mainland Antarctica, you think,
the least you can do is actually sleep
on Antarctica, even if your sleeping bag is
too small as you shiver for warmth all night,
and an avalanche falls only 150 yards away
at 2:20 in the morning, dumping more ice
into the ocean... but not quite enough ice
to block your escape. Once I warm up
I think, isn’t it time for my polar plunge?
But that is when the captain of our ship angled
that boat toward the first humpback whales
seen of the season. Alright, this is great,
but these people keep trying to show me
one cool thing after another to distract
me from my truly, near one of the poles
polar plunge. And then they say, “hey,
let’s go to Danco Harbor first, where
all the Gentoo penguins are jumping
into the ocean.” And I think, wait a minute,
I should by jumping into that ocean too!
But fine, okay, we dock at Danco Harbor
and they say, “just go up that mountain
to see the penguins.” So I take my first step,
in a coat and rubber pants and boots over
3 more layers, and in my 2nd step I sink
3 feet into the snow. I’d work to get out
of this 3-foot hole I made, take 2 steps,
and then I’d sink 3 feet again. After digging
myself out 40 times after only 20 feet,
I said, no. That’s it. I’m stopping. I’m not
fighting this mountain just to see penguins...
so instead I waddled over toward
the shore for the Southern ocean,
sat there and waited for the penguins
to come to me. And they did, as I
sat there for hours photographing one
Gentoo penguin after another diving in.
Okay, this is great, but I can’t take it anymore,
I’ve waited long enough. It’s my turn.
So they finally relented, and we docked
so I could get ready for doing something
I never wanted to do when I lived up north.
But this was different. Kind of like
camping here, which was miserable,
but it was something I had to do. So...
because the water could be too cold
and shock my system, I strapped a harness on.
Then I waited. When it was finally my turn
one of the crew mates, for the photo,
acted like they pushed me in.
They didn’t, of course, and when I
was finally in that frigid cold water,
all I could think was that, surprisingly,
it didn’t seem cold at all.
But I know that’s my body tricking
my mind when I subject myself
to something as ludicrous as this,
so I opened my eyes to the salt water
and looked up, to move to the light again.
I always thought the polar plunge
was so senseless, and way over-the-top.
But when I’m at the end of the earth,
I’ll gladly wait do something that insane.
That was the only thing I could ever do.

my hand to an anim of jkchair