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


the poetry audio CD set“HopeChest in the Attic”
Order this iTunes track
from the poetry audio CD
Hope Chest In The Attic
13 Years of Poetry & Prose
...Or order
the entire CD set from iTunes:
Janet Kuypers - Etc
get there Listen to studio mp3 file Janet Kuypers & live 02/15/05 - How Do I Get There? - The Fourteenth
or live mp3 file Janet Kuypers - How Do I Get There? - The Fourteenth tracks from the CD & performance art show
How Do I Get There?
video
videonot yet rated

Watch this YouTube video

live at the show How Do I Get There 02/15/05, Chicago
video
videonot yet rated


see the
entire performance
of How Do I Get There? 02/15/05 in Chicago live, via the Internet Archive
Listen mp3 file to this w/ the DMJ Art Connection
off the CD Chaos In Motion
Listen mp3 file to this collaboration
of Peter Bartels & Janet Kuypers:
pb&j
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
12/04/10 from the TV camera in Lake Villa at Swing State, live in her show the Stories of Women
video not yet rated   
Watch this YouTube video
12/04/10 in Lake Villa at Swing State, live in her “Visual Nonsense” show the Stories of Women
video See Kuypers’ full show video
with this & more from the TV monitor in the the Stories of Women show, in Visual Nonsense, live in Lake Villa 12/04/10 at Swing State
video videonot yet rated

See the full show video of Kuypers reading this & more in the the Stories of Women show in in Visual Nonsense, live in Lake Villa 12/04/10 with this writing at Swing State (last line of last story cut off)
video videonot yet rated

Watch the YouTube video

of Kuypers reading this poem at the open mike 2/15/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago, from the Samsung
video videonot yet rated
Watch the YouTube video

of Kuypers’ intro to the open mike 2/15/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago, plus other open mike poets, and her poetry (from the Kodak)
video videonot yet rated
See YouTube video 2/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem The Fourteenth at the Poetry Plus open mic at Cianfrani’s on the Square in Georgetown TX (video filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera).
video See YouTube video 2/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her 2 poems The Fourteenth & Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation), and then her 2 poems There I Sit & Writing Your Name as one, at the Poetry Plus open mic at Cianfrani’s on the Square in Georgetown TX (filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 2/5/17 20+ minute poetry reading at Austin’s Recycled Reads, with her poems “the Fourteenth”, “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “the Page”, “the Flashback”, “the Muse, the Messiah”, “Slate and Marrow”, and “just one book” (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 2/5/17 20+ minute poetry reading at Austin’s Recycled Reads, with her poems “the Fourteenth”, “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “the Page”, “the Flashback”, “the Muse, the Messiah”, “Slate and Marrow”, and “just one book” (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems (less than) “Video Killed the Radio Star” (for World Radio Da, 2/14), “The Fourteenth” and “Violations in the Name of Love” (for Valentine’s Day, 2/14), all read from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)”, live 2/8/20 @ “Poetry Aloud” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera, on Facebook Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems (less than) “Video Killed the Radio Star” (for World Radio Da, 2/14), “The Fourteenth” and “Violations in the Name of Love” (for Valentine’s Day, 2/14), all read from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)”, live 2/8/20 @ “Poetry Aloud” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, on Facebook Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

the Fourteenth

grade school, lace and construction paper cut outs -
mimicking our hearts with school glue, a
sixty-four pack of crayons,
a doily, perhaps, and a child’s scribblings,
“Be My Valentine.” The beginning of every cold February
the classes of children are taught to make enough little hearts
for everyone, so that no one may be disappointed,
so that everyone can be your Valentine.
Nonetheless, one little child’s construction paper mailbox
come February fourteenth
always had less than everyone else’s.

And then it gets easier as the years go on
mommies buy little packs of Valentine cards
for their children to sign and give away to all the little
children at school. Saves them from having to
make all those cards,
the glue and the glitter and the cut-outs are messy.

Every fourteenth, second month
when I was little
I remember daddy bringing heart-shaped boxes
home for all the girls -
myself, my sister, my mother. I can remember mother now,
her candy box on her ironing board, thanking him once again
for the lovely gift. And so it goes.

And the card shops get fuller this time every year
husbands saying “my wife will kill me
if I don’t get her a card” or young women complaining
“my boss told me to get a card for his wife”

And the flowers seem the same, don’t they? Carnations
arranged in a big ball atop a little basket. Red,
yellow, pink, white. Lovely.
All the adornments of the holiday. Don’t stop short of the best.

A girlfriend said to me once
she’s sure boyfriends break up with you by the
beginning of February so they don’t have to
buy you anything. So they don’t have to say they love you.
Last year I spent Valentine’s Day
taking those chalky hearts with messages on them
and scribbling my own on the back.
“Screw You”, “Go Away”, “Leave Me Alone.” I never
liked the taste of those candies.
And the Valentine’s Day party,
where all the single people were thinking,
“Please give me someone to go home with. Don’t let me
be alone tonight.”

And the women getting lonely
and the married couples arguing
and the suicide rate going up

And the woman looking at the carnations on her
dining room table
holding the card in her hand that says “love, Jake”
wondering why it doesn’t feel good yet


Copyright Janet Kuypers.
All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.