poem Been a World Leader, a poem about how people in other countries resent Americans By Chicago Poet and performance artist Janet Kuypers

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

Download this poem in the free 10/3/12
“Janet with HA!” chapbook
w/ material from their live show together.

See YouTube video
of Kuypers reading this piece in the live show the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! at Chicago’s Gallery Cabaret 20121003 (Canon)

See YouTube video
of Kuypers reading this piece in the live show the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! at Chicago’s Gallery Cabaret 20121003 (Kodak)

See YouTube video
of Kuypers reading this piece in the live show the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! at Chicago’s Gallery Cabaret 20121003 (Sony)

See YouTube video
of the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! full live show at Gallery Cabaret in Chicago 20121003 (Canon), including this piece

See YouTube video
of most of the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! full live show at Gallery Cabaret in Chicago 20121003 (Kodak) including this piece

See YouTube video
of most of the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! full live show at Gallery Cabaret in Chicago 20121003 (Samsung), including this piece

See YouTube video
of Kuypers reading this piece in the live show the Janet Kuypers with the music of HA! at Chicago’s Gallery Cabaret 20121003 (Samsung)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers saying her 3 poems “Exempt from the Draft”, “Been a World Leader” and “the Way you Tease me” 11/13/16 (with background music from the HA!Man of South Africa, &#entering the ruines”) at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers saying her 3 poems “Exempt from the Draft”, “Been a World Leader” and “the Way you Tease me” 11/13/16 (with background music from the HA!Man of South Africa, &#entering the ruines”) at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video 3/21/17 for World Poetry Day of Janet Kuypers’ “Lengthy World Poems on World Poetry Day” at Austin’s Half Price Books, with her poems “Freedom just past the Fence”, “My Kind of Town”, “Been a World Leader”, “Enough’s Enough”, “The Little Differences” and an edited “Communication 2012” (Canon Power Shot SX700 camera).

See YouTube video 3/21/17 for World Poetry Day of Janet Kuypers’ “Lengthy World Poems on World Poetry Day” at Austin’s Half Price Books, with her poems “Freedom just past the Fence”, “My Kind of Town”, “Been a World Leader”, “Enough’s Enough”, “The Little Differences” and an edited “Communication 2012” (Canon Power Shot SX60 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers speaking her Instagram-length poems “Every Step” and “Brittle”, then reading her poems “Been a World Leader” and “My Kind of Town” from her interview/journal/poetry book “In Depth”, then her poem “Loving Four” from the v5 cc&d boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” at “Poetry Aloud” 8/11/18 (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers speaking her Instagram-length poems “Every Step” and “Brittle”, then reading her poems “Been a World Leader” and “My Kind of Town” from her interview/journal/poetry book “In Depth”, then her poem “Loving Four” from the v5 cc&d boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” at “Poetry Aloud” 8/11/18 (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Been a World Leader” from her “Janet with HA!” show, her poem “Jumping from the Skyline to the Clouds” from her “Nashville Halloween” feature, and her poem “Newspaper Ink’s the Blood of a Dying Species” from her “This Just In” show, all read from her book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, live 9/15/18 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (video filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Been a World Leader” from her “Janet with HA!” show, her poem “Jumping from the Skyline to the Clouds” from her “Nashville Halloween” feature, and her poem “Newspaper Ink’s the Blood of a Dying Species” from her “This Just In” show, all read from her book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, live 9/15/18 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (video filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poetry in multiple rounds live 11/9/19 at the Grace Heritage Center for the Georgetown “Poetry Aloud“ open mic. In round 1 she read her poem “Depth of Field” from her poetry book “Reve aled”, then her Poetry Aloud inspired poems “Undulating Nexus” and “Just too High for Just one Man”. In round 2 she reads her poems “Been a World Leader”, “Enough’s Enough”, and “My kind of Town” from her poetry book “Reve aled”, accompanied by Ron on guitar. In round 3 she reads her poem “Loving Four” from her poetry book “Reve aled”, accompanied by Ron on guitar. (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poetry in multiple rounds live 11/9/19 at the Grace Heritage Center for the Georgetown “Poetry Aloud“ open mic. In round 1 she read her poem “Depth of Field” from her poetry book “Reve aled”, then her Poetry Aloud inspired poems “Undulating Nexus” and “Just too High for Just one Man”. In round 2 she reads her poems “Been a World Leader”, “Enough’s Enough”, and “My kind of Town” from her poetry book “Reve aled”, accompanied by Ron on guitar. In round 3 she reads her poem “Loving Four” from her poetry book “Reve aled”, accompanied by Ron on guitar. (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr).

Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Been a World Leader” and “Enough’s Enough” from the Down in the Dirt 6/22 v195 issue/book “Bri dge” on 6/1/22, the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 PM CST in honor of the “Community Poetry” reading (this video was filmed and streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera with a b&w Old Film filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypers

Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Been a World Leader” and “Enough’s Enough” from the Down in the Dirt 6/22 v195 issue/book “Bri dge” on 6/1/22, the 1st Wednesday of the month from 1:00-3:00 PM CST in honor of the “Community Poetry” reading (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry

Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Been a World Leader” and “Enough’s Enough” from the Down in the Dirt 6/22 v195 issue/book “Bri dge” during her “Poetic License global open mic 6/5/22” she hosted in a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (this video was filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera with an Old b&w Film filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Been a World Leader” and “Enough’s Enough” from the Down in the Dirt 6/22 v195 issue/book “Bri dge” during her “Poetic License global open mic 6/5/22” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Everyone Else”, “Surviving the Apocalypse”, “Know You”, “Quenching Anybody’s Thirst”, “Worth Something”, “Everyone Has a Choice”, “Zach Makes Me Think About These Things”, “Been a World Leader”, and “Enough’s Enough” from section 2 of the Down in the Dirt 5-8/22 issue collection book “The Final Frontier” on 10/5/22 on the 1st Wednesday of the month (1:00-3:00 PM CST) in honor of ‘Community Poetry’ (filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuypersbookreading

Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Everyone Else”, “Surviving the Apocalypse”, “Know You”, “Quenching Anybody’s Thirst”, “Worth Something”, “Everyone Has a Choice”, “Zach Makes Me Think About These Things”, “Been a World Leader”, and “Enough’s Enough” from section 2 of the from the Down in the Dirt 5-8/22 issue collection book “The Final Frontier” on 10/5/22 on the 1st Wednesday of the month (1:00-3:00 PM CST) in honor of ‘Community Poetry’ (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

Been a World Leader
Janet Kuypers
for the 10/3/12 show with the HA!man of South Africa
6/17/12
(You may have stories about
traveling around the world
from your home in South Africa,
but people can have
an entirely different view about you
if you’re an American traveling abroad...)
People can think
that Americans are cocky and arrogant
because we’ve been a world leader
for so long...
Because even though
our cars are from Korea,
our electronics are from Japan,
and we owe China Billions...
Better beers are from Germany,
better wines and champagnes from France...
Because even though
we’ve been thrust into this global economy
that Al Gore pushed us into
by creating the Internet,
us Americans still seem to
want to rest on our past laurels
through the next millennium...
Once I stopped for a beer
at a dive in Munich
(oh, sorry, München),
where the female bartender
tended bar for three old German men
and one
very
out of place
American.
Barely knowing German,
I figured I could sit here,
say a beer name on a tap,
pay in Euros
and leave it at that.
But at one point
after the juke box in the far corner
(that I never even noticed)
started playing some new
American-sounding pop song,
one of the old German men
turned to me, and started
yelling at me in German.
Holding my Franziskaner draft,
my eyes turned to saucers...
I was unable to say a word
to this old German man
yelling at me
in a language I could not decipher.
That’s when the bartender
yelled back at the old man
in German, then English,
“They didn’t play this song,
I did!”
So I smiled at the bartender
and finished my beer,
realizing that us Americans
can still get into trouble
without saying a word.

Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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