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Order this Janet Kuypers writing from her most recent poetry book series: (pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems Order this 6" x 9" ISBN# book today of select poems written mid-2015 - mid-2017 during her first years living in Austin, TX  
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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “Dear Reader” Down in the Dirt, v155 (the March 2018 Issue)  You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book: |
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Order this writing in the issue book At Midnight the Down in the Dirt Jan.-Apr. 2018 collection book |
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get the 418 page Jan.-Apr. 2018 Down in the Dirt issue anthology 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:
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| Queen of Multimedia
for a reason Janet Kuypers 1/11/17 When people are offered a 10-minute time slot to perform poetry, most people call them poetry readings. But I call it a show. Why? For instance, I incorporate music any way I can (when it can’t be live, I’ll settle for recordings from my musician friends). For years I used PowerPoint for huge screens of my art to coincide with my poetry, or else I’d display videos, either by making videos to display or by filming me while I read and showing my show live on a big screen. And no, I didn’t play with props to distract people from my writing, but to incorporate different senses, so people could remember my poetry with both sights and sounds. And sure, they might have granted me the title “queen of multimedia” and “multimedia diva” back in Chicago, but, it’s more than that. It’s more than throwing technology into poetry performance art shows. And I’m not trying to be the poetry shock jock. I just look for different ways to get my message across and hammer my poetic point home. And you know, sometimes it’s fun to use more than just words. Once, when I did a show of poems about other countries, I displayed on a screen A giant drawing of a tv while my photos slide show scrolled on the “screen” of my drawn tv, while I sat in a drawing of a giant chair and clicked on a giant mock remote control... Because if the world doesn’t match what I want sometimes, then at least I can draw the world just as I want it... And yeah, I can be all about the props by creating a Wink Mattindale long thin game show host microphone, but that mike was perfect with my Warhol wig and ‘50s jacket when my poetry feature became the “Poetry Game Show”. Other poets each read a poem of mine — and after I borrowed a sound pressure meter, I awarded the poet with the loudest applause with a paper Burger King crown, adorned with “Poetry Game Show Winner” flags. I did a show about conflicts with cops by wearing prison orange, removing the hand cuffs for my feature and standing in front of a height ruler, like I was getting my mug shot taken. I did a show like I was on my cell phone, reading poems like they were conversations, because how many times have you been able to listen in to someone loud mouthing, in their own world, on their cell phone. I wrote a poem about being an open book and read it in a show after using novel pages to make a paperback jacket, because really, you could guess a thing or two about me by listening to what I care to share Because yeah, I’ve done a lot of shows standing on a stage just reading poems. But when it comes down to it, those aren’t the shows people remember. Because if you can incorporate people, or props, or music, or video into a show, and it’s something that people remember, well then, all that makes me think is that being a poet is one thing, but when it comes to poetry shows, maybe... maybe being the queen of multimedia isn’t such a bad thing after all. |
