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


Listen mp3 file to the CD recording
of this, from the CD Change/Rearrange
Listen mp3 file Janet Kuypers - How Do I Get There? - What Do We Say
or live mp3 file Janet Kuypers - How Do I Get There? - What Do We Say tracks from the CD & performance art show How Do I Get There?
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live at the show How Do I Get There 02/15/05, Chicago
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see the
entire performance
of How Do I Get There? 02/15/05 in Chicago live, via the Internet Archive
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read live 09/13/11, at the Café open mike she hosts in Chicago
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video of the introduction to the 09/13/11 weekly poetry open mike she hosts live at the Café in Chicago, & her reading poetry (including this poem) from her ISBN# poetry book Contents Under Pressure
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read live 11/13/11, at the Café open mike she hosts in Chicago
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of the intro to the 11/13/11 weekly poetry open mike at the Café in Chicago, & her reading her poem “What Do We Say
video See YouTube video 1/21/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “What Do We Say”, “Where To Go”, and “yearning to break frees” at “Recycled Reads” open mic, a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video 1/21/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “What Do We Say”, “Where To Go”, and “yearning to break free” at “Recycled Reads” open mic, a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

What do we say

What do we tell our youth
when we let them out on probation
for violent crimes
because there’s no room in our jails

What does it say of us
when a painting of a clown
by John Wayne Gasey
sells for millions

What does it say of our self-esteem
when hundreds of women write letters
to Charles Manson
asking for his hand in marriage

What does it say of our media
when it glorifies these
dark heroes

Dear
Hero
I want to know how your mind works
I want to know why you did it
I want to know how you feel about politics
and love
and marriage
I hope you’re not suffering too much
I love you

What rights do we really take away
from those who take our rights from us?

I hope you’re not suffering too much

Richard Speck, convicted of killing
eight nurses, was videotaped in his
prison cell by cell mates with his
male lover, counting hundred
dollar bills, snorting mounds of
cocaine,
showing off his hormonally-
induced shapely breasts

When a menber of society commits a crime
they relinquish the rights
they have taken from others

in theory

One man in prison filed a lawsuit
against the state
for serving peas to him too many
days in a row
One man in prison filed a lawsuit
against Ann Landers
because she published his letter
where he wrote he killed his wife
One man in prison filed lawsuit
after lawsuit against the state
solely because he felt a great joy
in uselessly spending
the taxpayers’ money

What do we say to all of this
What do we say?


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

the book Moving Performances the 2007 cc&d v171.5 book Living in Chaos, with material from Janet Kuypers the book Change/Rearrange
the CD Change/Rearrange How Do I Get There? CD the CD Moving Performances