[the Writing of Kuypers] [JanetKuypers.com] [Bio] [Poems] [Prose]
the June 17 2003 performance art show Changing Gears
starting the trip
After saving money, I quit my job, and
IllinoisBefore we left Chicago, I prepared food for the trip, and Eugene didn᾿t. He᾿ll probably stop at every Taco John᾿s he can find. I don᾿t know what it is with Eugene and Taco John᾿s fast food. He loves it like you wouldn᾿t believe... I mean, yes, the food is fine, but it᾿s a bean burrito...
IowaAfter drove through Iowa᾿s flat lands for 4 hours, we got to Nebraska,
Nebraskawhere we saw my friend Doug in Omaha. He told us that people from Omaha refer to their town as ᾸThe Big O.Ᾱ Now, when I hear Ᾰthe Big O,Ᾱ I don᾿t think Omaha...
As we were talking one night, Eugene said that he wanted human cloning, so that they could make a clone of him one day, but with no brain. I immediately said, ᾸOh, that᾿s a bit redundant.Ᾱ
Heading west, we went to an original Pony Express Station. Then stopped by the Sod House Museum... Speaking of animals, I saw a llama. Honestly. I saw this llama walking along the side of the expressway.
Colorado
Boulder is located at the base of the Rocky mountains. We went hiking in the mountains. We kept climbing out onto rocks that were right at the edge of the mountain side, and I thought of my friend Joe: when we hiked up a mountain to a metal power line tower in Pasadena California, Joe climbed up the tower and started walking out along one of the girders, like it was a balance beam only three feet from the ground, but it dropped off a mountainside. It was risky, but Joe said, ᾸWalking on this edge is just like walking on a tile seam on your kitchen floor. You are capable of doing it. It is just that your mind is telling you that you can᾿t.Ᾱ
a match
ᾸI once set fire to my fingernail.
She struck another match
But everyone focused on
Denver
After dinner in Denver, my friend Tom took us to a posh martini bar with swing music. It was nice... Until Eugene started complaining. We sat at a table near where their garbage can was, and periodically the bartenders would throw an empty glass bottle in the trash and it would crash loudly right next to us. Eugene argumed to the bartender that this was a quiet, relaxing bar, and he said something to the effect of
The next afternoon we drove in the mountains, saw some elks (they were at an elevation of about 8,000 feet). We went to Golden, a town whose name camne from being a stopping point for people going to the gold rush. Eugene and I went with Dave and Matt in Denver to a cheesey hole-in-the-wall called The PS Lounge, and met Christen. She bought me a shot, some stranger bought drinks for everyone in the bar, and we drank our way to the next bar, the ᾸLion᾿s Lair.Ᾱ
We later drank beer from people who were playing strip pool at Dave᾿s apartment... But later in our trip, we went to the U.S. Mint. We visited the Capitol building, we went to visit the Molly Brown house (she was a survivor of the Titanic), and we went to the Denver Art Museum. We passed the Continental Divide (the ridge of mountains that defines the drainage of water, either to the Mississippi or to the Pacific basin). We passed through Vail. We visited Glenwood Canyon and drove through the White River National Forest. Then I left Eugene so see northern states on my own, before we headed south.
MontanaI went through Montana, with no day time speed limit. So I went 125 miles per hour.
IdahoAnd then whipped through Idaho, because I didn᾿t want to see anthing there, I mean what,
potatoes? So I drove through to Wyomingto see Yosemite, and the mountians were gorgeous along the horizon; I even took a picture of them while I᾿m driving. At Yosemite and I saw cool trees, and Old Faithful erupted every hour and 10 minutes. Driving south, I had to stop because a bunch of bison were walking across the road. And at another point in the road, I tried to photograph a small gold fox that started darting away when he saw me, so I couldn᾿t take a photo. So Llamas, Elk, Foxes, and bison. I wonder what other animals I could see along here if I don᾿t get in nature᾿s way.
everything was alive and dyingI
I had a dream the other night
and then I saw a raccoon with a few little
and she spoke to me,
and I said, you know they don᾿t II
Then I walked a little further III
And I walked deeper in to the forest
the wind tunneled through
I walked
we᾿ve been on this planet for so long
and I said, but I don᾿t do much, IV and I woke up in a sweat V
so tell me, Bob Dole VI
Do you even know why
did you know that medical researchers VII
You know my motives aren᾿t selfless
I᾿d like to find a cure to these diseases
You know, I know you᾿re looking at me VIII
everything is linked here and you tell me I᾿m extreme
and I᾿m beginning to think that we just keep doing it
we live through the guilt
maybe shoot ourselves in the head
in the wild
now that we᾿re civilized
maybe when we have all this power and so we do
Utah
I met up with Eugene to keep going, and I got so excited as soon as we got into Utah, and I think it᾿s because
We stayed in a hotel. Eugene opened the night stand drawer and found the Book of Mormon. Fitting for Utah.
We went first to Crystal Geyser, then to Arches National Park, where there were 35 foot tall rocks, weighing 3,500 tons, balancing on top of 120 foot rock poles. I᾿m used to hearing trucks and souped up cars and people yelling.
We camped at Canyonlands National Park. It was so amazing at night to see so many stars. (versus the orange glow of the overcast Chicago night sky, with an occasional plane. There were no towns around for at least forty miles, and no clouds in the sky.
In the morning we held bread and peanuts, and birds flew onto our fingers, eating food from the palms of our hands. Utah had no big towns in the southern half of the state, and we didn᾿t go north toward Salt Lake City - even though that᾿s where the Osmonds lived.
Nevada
I᾿ve been to Las Vegas twice.
The second time I went to Vegas was as the photographer for my old employer. I stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton. Not the Flamingo Hilton, not the tacky one, not the unique one, but the this-is-a-building-that-could-be-anywhere Hilton.
god eyes
It was a stupid point to argue about at 2 a.m.,
You told me of a dream you had: in it you and
You were the optimist: yes, there is
It᾿s now after three and the casino plays music:
Passion is a hard thing to describe. There is a
All of my life I have seen people espouse beliefs
on the television screen. You don᾿t gamble. Neither
You looked into my eyes as it approached
Las Vegas is a crazy place. Everything is extremely well-lit. None of the casinos have windows. They don᾿t want you to know what time of day it is, because if you realize that it᾿s dawn you might stop gambling. They use so much power from the Hoover Dam to light the many lights and run the air conditioning; they actually cool off the air on the sidewalk right outside the front doors to the hotels and casinos. And every time I saw the casino the Mirage, I thought of the Beastie Boys᾿ song ᾸSabotageᾹ, which says ᾸOh my God, It᾿s a Mirage, I᾿m telling y᾿all, it᾿s sabotage.Ᾱ
But by the end of the night, I think Eugene was actually enjoying himself, and not bitching about how Las Vegas is robbing water from the Colorado River in order to survive in a desert. Went to the Hoover Dam. It was an amazingly beautiful feat of man. It᾿s stunning.
in the air (excerpts)From above, in the air, the mountains looklike the little mountains you see on topographically correct globes, little ridges, as if they᾿re made of sand, and if you just lean your head down a little bit, your exhaling could make them all blow away in the breeze.
CaliforniaWe first stopped in a small town in California who᾿s claim to fame was that it had the world᾿s tallest thermometer. It was 134 feet tall, to mark the high temperature Death Valley reached in the early 1900s.
on the california streetswe were walking along Santa Monica Boulevardwe passed a young homeless man, and he asked could you spare a hundred thousand dollars?
and I thought, of course he won᾿t get it
ways to spend your moneywe visited Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Brentwoodwe saw the Hollywood sign the La Brea Tar Pits Sinatra᾿s and Marilyn Monroe᾿s hand print in concrete took a picture with Tom Jones᾿ star
but the one thing I noticed was that among the shops
I noticed that driving on the 10 in LA was one of the most frightening experiences know to man. Now I᾿m used to driving in Chicago, and by far I᾿m a Type A driver. Driving the 10, however, is more like driving in an auto race than in a traffic jam, and all the competitors are out for blood.
Ᾰtype aᾹ personI was in my friend᾿s car once, and she was driving through the streets of Chicago, and she was letting people get in front of her, and she᾿s stopping at four-way stop intersections and waving other cars to go in front of her, and when she is going she᾿s going under the speed limit, and I᾿m thinking, my god, she᾿s she᾿s driving like she᾿s twice her age and I want to tell her to get going because damnit, I don᾿t want to die in this car, I᾿ve got a lot of living to do, I᾿ve never jumped out of an airplane or made a million dollars, and if I am going to go out I surely don᾿t want to die of boredom while someone else is staying in the most congested lane of traffic instead of getting in front of everyone else, like I would most certainly do. And then it occurred to me: I really am a Type A person. I mean, yes, I᾿m the one that᾿s yelling and banging the steering wheel of my car when people on the road are idiots. Yes, I᾿m that person who has to race so that I can slam on my brakes at that next intersection, only 100 feet away, and yes, I am only driving a Saturn SL1, a sedan with about as much power as a 1982 Ford Mustang, but damnit, I won᾿t go down without a fight, I will be out there cutting everyone off, weaving in and out of traffic. And even when I᾿m tuning the radio while driving, because, you see, I do that and put on my make-up and take notes for work and check over my schedule and if I was the Hindu god Vishnu and had ten arms I᾿d get a cel phone and send out faxes and eat dinner and write a novel while I was at it, but, as I said, even when I᾿m tuning the radio while I᾿m driving, I only let the first second of the song play before I᾿m disgusted and change the dial, just to instantaneously become disgusted another six times and have to find a tape to play because all those stupid corporate pieces of shit think they should play crap over and over again on the radio. Even walking on the sidewalk, I always get stuck behind someone that᾿s a full foot shorter than me and a full thirty pounds heavier, someone who labors to walk very, very slowly, someone who actually sways rhythmically when they walk, like a metronome. I want to get going, and I᾿m walking behind this person, almost tripping over myself. Yes, I am the person in line at the grocery store with three items, shifting my weight from foot to foot, frantically scanning the other lines, the person who wants to ask the person in front of them, Ᾰcan᾿t I get in front of you, I᾿ve only got three items and you have two full grocery carts full of crap like Cheetos, Pepsi, fish sticks, frozen pepperoni pizza & Haagen Daz Cookie Dough ice cream.Ᾱ I᾿m guessing that at my funeral, when the long procession of cars is creeping toward the cemetery, I᾿ll open my casket up and whisper to the driver of the hearse, Ᾰhey, what do you say we floor it and blow everyone off? We could probably grab a beer at the corner bar and still be able to beat everyone to the grave site,Ᾱ because, as I said, I᾿m a ᾸType AᾹ person, and I᾿m going to make damn sure I do as much living as I possibly can, I᾿m not going down without a fight, and wherever that god-damned goal line is, I swear, I᾿ll beat everyone to it.
Oh, but wait, I didn᾿t tell you yet about my day trip to Mexico.
Diane Talking About her Trip to Mexico CitySo I decided to take a trip to Mexico City by myself.I got lost once, and men in cars kept offering to give me rides, Ᾰhey, baby, you want your own private taxi?Ᾱ and I᾿d have to move away from them.
But the man that ran the hotel thought
Tijuana was a dirty place. The crappy streets are really tiny. There is a stop sign - or, an ᾸaltoᾹ sign - at every block. Men try to flag you into driving into their auto transmission shops. You can see a man with a camera, and a donkey painted to look like a zebra, waiting for you to buy a tourist photo... They even supply a sombrero if you want for the picture. Shop owners stand at the sidewalk and try to convince you to come into their store. The desperately want American money. Beers were two for one, so we got a bucket of beers, then the waiter brought us free tequila shots. Eugene doesn᾿t drink hard liquor, so I drank both... We met 3 young people ditching work from San Diego. We drank, and they kept giving us free shots; I had at least 13 tequila shots that day. At one point, the bartender, wearing a sombrero and blowing on a whistle, threw a napkin around my neck and poured tequila down my throat. We were dancing to the Macarena with these people, who ended up bringing is back to their place in San Diego and giving us a place to stay for the night.
In a nutshell, Tijuana᾿s pretty much an alternate universe...
We passed the Mohave Desert when it actually rained in the heat storm, on our way to Arizona.
I remember sitting outside then, and after a few minutes, something smelled, but it took me a minute to place it. Then I realized... That᾿s the smell of burning flesh. It was 122 degrees outside.
But since it got cooler, we went to the Grand Canyon, which was pretty magnificent...
New Mexico
We went to the National Poetry Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I performed in a show with five other Chicago writers...
when you enter Texas,There were oil pumps everywhere in the fields. We went out in Austin one night, and it was Mardi Gras in New Orleans that same night. Streets were blocked off & police cars were everywhere. People crowded into the streets. There were people on roof tops & balconies screaming. Everyone was wearing plastic Mardi Gras beads. But after this Eugene leaves and goes back to Chicago, and I take the rest of this trip myself, starting with Louisiana.
Louisianathe bridge to new orleansyou have to pass the desolationbefore you get there long, long bridges overlooking swamps, decaying trees occasionally a home foundation crumbling wet wood peeling away
the people in those homes see
they have the isolation
Driving to New Orleans, I love the catacombs, like Marie Lauveaux᾿s grave, and the above-ground cemeteries. But in the Franch Quarter, a business associate had a balcony on Bourbon street we᾿d hang out at. We᾿ve visited there before with my friend Doug. We most recently went to New Orleans to see friends at Mardi Gras.
Jackson Square/Bourbon Streetwe᾿ll read your palmwe᾿ll sketch your face we᾿ll take you for a carriage ride we᾿ll pipe you full of liquor we᾿ll make you happy
There are a lot of little shops there, some are cheesey t-shirt shops, some art galleries, some sex shops, some 16th century antique stores. After I dried my clothes in the windows of my car (i love travel), I went with my sister and her frind (who were visiting New Orleans)down toward Bourbon or Decatur street for frozen drinks, as well as went to Cafe du Monde for beignets. While I was in New Orleans, I found out that Dave, a man I had dated for the previous year and a half, died of a heart attack, months shy of his 32nd birthday. I couldn᾿t even get back in time for his fineral.
All The Details
I wonder if it᾿s just easier to think that you didn᾿t die, that you᾿re just ignoring me.
MississippiHaving to move on alone, I went to Mississippi. I stopped to see the NASA Space Center. I saw models of Space Shuttle engines, and saw a history of Americans in Space.
Florida
in the air (excerpts)Seeing Fort Myers Florida, the city always looksdifferent from any other place, all those palm trees, the marshes. Like you᾿re going somewhere foreign, and pretty soon the big tour will begin. You can feel the heat, the humidity sticking your shirt to your back between your shoulder blades, and your neck too, before you even walk outside.
I did a Chinese Fire Drill by myself when my car reached 100,000 miles between Tampa and Naples, where my parents lived to me to visit. You don᾿t think of visiting your parets, but after my mother had breast Cancer and a radical hystorectomy well, It changes how you think.
My motherMy motherMy mothermy mother has cancer, and we decided to goacross the country for a weekend to surprise her. i put it out of my mind until we actually had to fly there The night before i couldn᾿t bring myself to pack. it was two in the morning when i finally pulled my suitcase out from the pantry shelf. i kept telling people at work, Ᾰwell, you see, I have to go visit my mother because she has cancer, so I have to miss a few days of work,Ᾱ but I was always able to say it so matter-of-factly until I had to actually visit her In fact, when my sister told me the diagnosis, it was right around Christmas time, and there was so much work to do and I still had presents to wrap and a meal to prepare and Christmas was supposed to be a happy time that I managed to postpone even thinking about it until I had to pack. To decide what to take, what to leave behind, put my life into a little black box with a handle and wheels, and go It shouldn᾿t be this way, and I knew that, I knew that I shouldn᾿t be visiting my mother under these circumstances and I knew how she never wants to think about bad things because they always make her cry and this would make her want to cry and cry because the only reason why we᾿re there is because things are bad But I wasn᾿t supposed to think that way, things would be just fine. So I finished packing at four in the morning and the next thing I remember is I was on the plane with my sisters.
and then we got to mom and dad᾿s house
After visiting Tallahassee and seeing Lisa, I drove through Alabama
whereI saw a billboard there that said,
Tennessee
Met C Ra Mcguirt there in Tennesse. Back in ᾿93, he was so thankful that I accepted his work to cc&d magazine that he asked what he could do for me. I told him to start his own magazine and publish me.
I᾿ve been to Memphis before, but on this trip we went to dinner and we got yelled at for pipe smoking.
Kentucky
I saw where they hold the Kentucky Derby, at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
IndianaBefore I went home, I stopped in Bloomington Indiana to see my friend Brian.
Home Again
But as soon as I got back, well, Eugene had been home a month when I got back, and I found, among other things: I could have mentioned that there was an empty paper bag from Taco John᾿s in the refrigerator, but then I would have sounded like I was bitching...
Reflections
I᾿ve learned that there is a lot out there, and this country is filled with beautiful things.
|
|
