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the Kuipers Name

Janet Kuypers, 09/02/06 #1

we’ve had to go sorting through the paperwork
mom kept records of everything,
probably dating back to nineteen seventy

but they found baptism records,
passport records, communion papers,
birth certificates

and we just noticed
that on dad’s birth certificate
his last name,
and out grandfather’s name,
is actually spelled “Kuipers”

and I have records of our family
back to our great great great great great
grandfather, born in 1767 in Heusden

and unless the records I was given were wrong
our last name has always been Kuypers

and dad has always gone by Kuypers
but when I read this, I thought of
the astronomer the Kuiper belt is named after

us Dutch folk like astronomy, apparently

so I don’t know what our name really should be
and hey, all of the kids birth certificates
say “Kuypers,” not “Kuipers”

so I suppose it’s just funny
the Dutch are great architects
and we’ve been architects, or
in the contruction business
or like me, a photographer of architecture

and it’s funny to see my name in astronomy
and by chance someone spelling my dad’s name
on his birth certificate with an “i”

you know, to give me one more connection
to something I love

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