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

Watch this YouTube video live at the show Questions in a World Without Answers 10/05/04, Chicago

watch the full Questions in a World Withough Answers video live, including this poem in Chicago 10/05/04 (~21:56)

Listen Live at the Cafe, now available in a 3 CD set

Listen to the DMJ Art Connection

Order this iTunes track: from the poetry audio CDetc. ...Or order the entire CD set from iTunes CD:

Listen: (4:02) to this recording from Fusion

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading verses 1 and 3 of her poem Scars 2000 live 6/5/13 as the intro to the open mic the Café Gallery in Chicago (Sony)

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading verses 1 and 3 of her poem Scars 2000 live 6/5/13 as the intro to the open mic the Café Gallery in Chicago (Canon)

See YouTube video of Kuypers hosting the open mic 6/5/13 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago, which contains this writing

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her Scars 2015 medley (based on parts of the prose poem Scars and the poems Scars 1997 and Scars 2000 10/6/15 at Quenchers open mic in Chicago (Cfs)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her Scars 2015 medley (based on parts of the prose poem Scars and the poems Scars 1997 and Scars 2000 10/6/15 at Quenchers open mic in Chicago (Cps)

See YouTube video (Cfs) of Janet Kuypers reading 5 poems: Once Wanted You as my Friend, Escaping Every Cage, and a Scars medley (based on parts of the prose poem Scars and the poems Scars 1997 and Scars 2000, then Too Far and Children, Churches and Daddies 10/6/15 at Quenchers open mic in Chicago

See YouTube video (Cps) of Janet Kuypers reading 5 poems: Once Wanted You as my Friend, Escaping Every Cage, and a Scars medley (based on parts of the prose poem Scars and the poems Scars 1997 and Scars 2000, then Too Far and Children, Churches and Daddies 10/6/15 at Quenchers open mic in Chicago

Scars 2000 “Find What’s Wrong” I An Admiral, A General             A high-ranking military official when you get somewhere in the military when you grease the right wheels when you climb the corporate ladder when you get as high as you can when you make your graceful exit when you’ve been adorned with pins                                                             and medals                                                             and badges of honor and you’ve got all your stripes on your sleeve when you accomplish it all and when you retire well, then what? II the effects of age are getting to me my vision is shot to hell my contacts kill me and     my glasses are so old     they’re only half the strength of my prescription so when i look at things     i notice the blur more than     i notice the detail my senses of taste and smell are shot to hell     i throw so much garlic on food for flavor     that i offend my friends and family     and i can’t even smell     when i smell i mean, cologne is lost to me my one ear is closed most of the time     and it feel like i’ve got water in my ear     and it hurts for me     to hear myself even breathe damnit, i can’t even sing any more     and do one of the things     i actually like to do i try to hear beautiful sounds     but people are usually talking over it instead     and all i can hear     is their incessant bickering and whining and god damnit, i try to enjoy something every once in a while and something more irritating is usually in the way     you know, i’d rely on writing     but for a while, i couldn’t even do that and what do you have then? i can feel it in my left ankle like i can’t carrye weight like i could any longer and my left knee keeps cracking and popping and my sister says, you know, you’ve got the ’kuypers’ knees and i guess the kuypers have bad knees and i was always unaware of that the knuckle in my right thumb has been swollen for over a decade and even the doctors can’t find anything wrong and whenever i write i grip the pen so tight that my fingers hurt and all i can feel is the ache in my joints III and whenever i look down and see the scars on my body and i should be proud of some and some would say that i should be proud of surviving some traumas and having the scars to prove it but all i see are the scars and all i feel are the aches and pains is this what scars do to you? or is it the memory of surviving the trials and getting the scars and is THIS what you have to show for everything you’ve done are these your pins and military stripes you get after you accomplished your goal? because what do you do when you’re retired do people care about your medals of honor or do you earn so many that they just weight you down? Copyright Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.