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live, 18 Years of Beach Poets
08/31/08, Chicago
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Childhood Memories 2” from her poetry show “Years in Poetry”, + her poems “Climbing Trees” and “Childhood Memories 5” from her poetry show “Poems on the Beach”, all from her performance art poetry collection book “Chapter 38 v2” live at Recycled Reads 7/21/18 (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Childhood Memories 2” from her poetry show “Years in Poetry”, + her poems “Climbing Trees” and “Childhood Memories 5” from her poetry show “Poems on the Beach”, all from her performance art poetry collection book “Chapter 38 v2” live at Recycled Reads 7/21/18 (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

Childhood Memories two

I was in the basement, the playroom
that’s where all my toys were, you see

and Sheri was with me
and we were playing house
or maybe it was office, we did that

instead a lot of the times. I had old forms
that businesses were throwing away,
we had two desks, dead calculators
my sister even made a switchboard for me

well, we were playing grown-up, whatever
the specifics were, I don’t remember. Why
do children want to grow up anyway?
Because it’s a different kind of pain, I think.

Well, we were playing this make-believe,
when I proceeded to go the the toy chest,
pull out my sister’s old communion veil,
and walk around the pool table in the center
of the room, take a step, feet together,
take a step, feet together.

What are you doing? she asked. Getting
married, I answered. Chris Caravette and I
were getting married, I said. Chris was a friend
of my sister’s, you see, an older man, in high
school, unlike us poor slobs who were still
children.

and she attended the wedding, and I threw her
the bouquet, and she caught it, just like
she was supposed to do, and when the
whole thing was over I walked my imaginary
groom to the corner of the room and
put away the veil, and that’s when she
took the veil, put it on, and acted like she was
getting married, too.

What are you doing? I asked. Getting
married, she answered. To who? I asked.
To Chris Caravette, she answered. And we
argued and argued, but I just married him,
you’re not supposed to do that, and before
you knew it we were in a shouting match.

Why did we want to grow up anyway? Because
we wanted a different kind of pain, I think.


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