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

Listen to this poem read Live at the Cafe, or order ANY track off the 3-CD set “Live at the Cafe” through iTunes.

See YouTube video (2:49) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Chess Game Again” 2/26/08 live at the Cafe in Chicago (this video was posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem

Watch this YouTube video of Kuypers reading poetry 02/28/08

Watch the YouTube video 06/07/11 at the Café in Chicago (from her book Close Cover Before Striking)

See feature-length YouTube video (21:47) of Kuypers reading her poems My First Time, Chicago West Side, Chess Game Again, Arrowhead, Realistic Dreams, Was Immune, To Be Different, Sunrise, Meant To Be, New Vacuum Cleaner and Skittery live 06/07/11 at the Café

Watch this YouTube video of the intro to the 06/07/11 open mic at the Café in Chicago, plus 2 new poems, & Close Cover Before Striking poems

Listen: (2:38) to this recording from Fusion, or order ANY track off the 2-CD set “Fusion” through iTunes.

See YouTube video live 10/19/19 at Austin’s “Open Mic Showcase”, where Janet Kuypers read poems from a variety of books in multiple rounds to the live audience at the bookstore, including this poem (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera); on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr.

See YouTube video live 10/19/19 at Austin’s “Open Mic Showcase”, where Janet Kuypers read poems from a variety of books in multiple rounds to the live audience at the bookstore, including this poem filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera); on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “ends of the earth”, “Listen to Life”, “Amber Beads”, her prose “Driving By His House”, and her poems “Andrew Hettinger”, “Death”, “Anything for the Liquor Fix”, “Chess Game Again”, and “Children, Churches, and Daddies”, in set 4 from the cc&d July-December 2018 expanded issue collection book “Among the Debris” during the “Poetic License open mic 6/7/20 home edition” she hosted in Austin through a Facebook event page (this video was from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and was posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “ends of the earth”, “Listen to Life”, “Queueing in Line and Shaping Your Life”, “Amber Beads”, her prose “Driving By His House”, and her poems “Andrew Hettinger”, “Death”, “Anything for the Liquor Fix”, “Chess Game Again”, and “Children, Churches, and Daddies”, in set 4 from the cc&d July-December 2018 expanded issue collection book “Among the Debris” during the “Poetic License open mic 6/7/20 home edition” she hosted in Austin, but globally through a Facebook event page (from a Samsung S9 camera).

chess game again we all watched the case on the news together, the case where a man on a subway train opened fire on passengers in the car. nine people dead, i think. they caught the man, they had their trial, and by right he could have a lawyer appointed to him. but no, he wanted to act as his own attorney. so every day he would come into the courtroom in his suit, looking professional, and he would question each of the witnesses, the people that survived his shooting spree and now had to look him in the eye and answer his questions. “so what happened then?” he would ask, and a woman would answer ,“i saw you push the woman to the ground, put your knee to her back and shoot her in the back of the head.” “can you point out the man that did this?” he would ask, and a man would respond, “it was you.” some of the witnesses broke down under the emotional strain. and finally he had no further questions and the judge dismissed the jury to arrive at a verdict. they found him guilty, and when the judge asked the defendant if he had any last words for the jury, he kept stressing his innocence, and never apologized. the judge told him he was disgusted. he saw no remorse in the killer’s eyes. and of all the violence we see in the media, all the court trials that are fed to us through our television sets, our boxes of american dreams, i don’t think any of us were prepared for this. how did those people feel, when faced with the man that has brought them so much pain, how did they feel when they had to quietly sit there and answer his questions, when he didn’t even say he was sorry? most of them sat there trying to keep their composure when faced with a man who lost all control. this twisted tale. they were a pawn in his chess game again. Copyright Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.