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Watch this YouTube video read live in the show “hmmm” 11/20/11 at the Café open mike in Chicago

Watch this YouTube video of the entire Janet Kuypers show “hmm” live 11/20/11 at the Café open mike in Chicago

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem at the Waiting4the Bus open mic in Chicago (from the Canon camera)

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem at the Waiting4the Bus open mic in Chicago (from the Samsung camera)

See Youtube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Before It Occurred to Me” and “Refuse in a Single Church” from her v5 cc&d boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” for the 2019 Poetry Bomb 4/29/12 at Circle Brewery (on a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See Youtube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Before It Occurred to Me” and “Refuse in a Single Church” from her v5 cc&d boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” for the 2019 Poetry Bomb 4/29/12 at Circle Brewery (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; Sepia).

refuse in a single church Janet Kuypers started 01/13/11, finished 01/20/11 (with adapted lines from Packing and Russians at a Garage Sale) walked into a church one Saturday when all the property on their land was converted for a weekend rummage sale churchgoers donated their belongings their refuse, the things they didn’t want anymore got their tax forms from the church so their acts of kindness won’t cost them so much and there were rows and rows of trinkets half an aisle of appliances, half an aisle of glassware someone would pick up a wine glass. “how much?” “twenty-five cents.” “how about ten?” “how much for this iron?” one would ask. a church lady would answer, “four dollars.” “fifty cents?” “no.” someone would point at the iron, a toaster, a blender. “all for a dollar?” “no.” And I thought, hmmm, as I looked at the appliances and thought about the appliances I donated to a church for their annual rummage sale last year. half the place had hanging clothes and there were grocery bags available at the front “fill a bag with clothes for two dollars” hmmm, maybe I’ll look for men’s button-down shirts look for anything like a classic white shirt but of course, those were never donated this is everyone’s refuse rows of dresses, pairs of shoes, pairs of shorts, shirts, loneliness, anger, belts, jewelry, extra socks and I thought: it’s amazing how much refuse you can find in a single church Copyright © 2011 Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.