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

the poetry CD Side A Order this iTunes track from the collection poetry music CD Side A ...Or order the entire CD from iTunes: Janet Kuypers - Side A
Listen mp3 file to the CD recording
of this, from the CD Change/Rearrange
Fusion
Listen: (2:00) mp3 file ...or order the collection poetry music CD Fusion from iTunes: Janet Kuypers - Side A
the poetry “Oh.” audio CD”
Order this iTunes track from the poetry audio CD “Oh.” ...Or order the entire CD set from iTunes: Janet Kuypers - “Oh.” audio CD
video Watch this YouTube video (2:09) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Two Minutes with Ayn Rand”, read from the ISBN# paperback book “Uncorrect”, live in Chicago 4/19/11 at her open mic at the Café, written years ago in response to poet and “Yammer” open mic host Lisa Hemminger writing “Two Minutes with Emily Dickinson” (written if she had 2 minutes to talk to her literary idol, what would she say), and Janet Kuypers chose the literary philosopher Ayn Rand, and for this reading set up a timer to display that this poem could be performed within 2 minutes... (this pwas posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem
video See YouTube video of the intro to the 4/19/11 open mic at the Café in Chicago, & this poem
video See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Two Minutes with Ayn Rand live 9/4/13 at the open mic the Café Gallery in Chicago (C)
video See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Two Minutes with Ayn Rand live 9/4/13 at the open mic the Café Gallery in Chicago (S)
video See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading (C) her poem Two Minutes with Ayn Rand live 7/16/14 at Chicago’s open mic the Café Gallery
video See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading (S) her poem Two Minutes with Ayn Rand live 7/16/14 at Chicago’s open mic the Café Gallery
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers 11/12/16 reading her poems “Exempt from the Draft” and “Two Minutes With Ayn Rand” at “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (on a Sony camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers 11/12/16 reading her poems “Exempt from the Draft” and “Two Minutes With Ayn Rand” at “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (Canon Power Shot).

Two Minutes With Ayn Rand

I don’t believe in things that aren’t proven,
that we have no evidence of, but sometimes,
sometimes, I still think about what I would do
if I had two minutes to talk to you

when someone asked me what I’d say
I said I’d rather hear you speak
I’m sure the words you would part unto me
would mean infinitely more
than what I could say to you

and if I could talk to you
I wouldn’t know what to say

But I know I’d have to tell you
like so many of your fans in the past
that I thank you
for showing me
that there are logical people in the world
that man can live by reason
that reason is a virtue
that selfishness is a virtue
that I have a right to what I earn
to what I create
to what I know to be true

I would have been still searching blindly
for philosophical answers
to the meaning of life
if you never told me
that I am worth something
that I am my own end

and it’s nice to know
that even when I’m surrounded by these
unthinking masses
that there are people who hold their minds
as the highest value
out there somewhere in the world

and the fact that they exist
helps me through my days

but you knew that
you wrote about these heroes
over the years
and how could you manage to write
gripping, thousand-page novels
about heros that a rational mind
can’t help but love
and did you really find that hero in real life?

because I’m still looking.

You’ve created these heroes
but are they just created
does anyone else understand
these values as I do?

Yes, thank you
for giving me the answers
I’ve been looking for,
but tell me that someone else out there
found the answers too

so maybe, if those who posed
this unreasonable illogical ethical question
in the first place, if they could give me
another two minutes
so you could do some talking
maybe then you could explain to me
how to get through the days
when no one understands you
how to accept less than perfection
when you’ve seen the purity and the clarity
of the thinking mind


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