poem Enough’s Enough, a poem about how Americans can talk very loudly, By Chicago Poet and performance artist Janet Kuypers

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

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 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 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 Kuypers reading this poem 10/12/12 at Poetry Love Letters in Chicago (filmed with the Sony video camera)

See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Enough’s Enough in Chicago 8/19/13 at Waiting4the Bus in Chicago (Canon)

See YouTube video
of the Janet Kuypers reading Enough’s Enough, My Kind of Town, Eyes are Blurred to the Battlefield, and Foreign Farmer live in Chicago at Waiting4the Bus 8/19/13 (Canon, Film Age - Older)

See YouTube video
of the Janet Kuypers reading poems Enough’s Enough, My Kind of Town, Eyes are Blurred to the Battlefield, and Foreign Farmer live in Chicago at Waiting4the Bus 8/19/13 (Samsung)

See YouTube video
of the Janet Kuypers reading poems Enough’s Enough, My Kind of Town, Eyes are Blurred to the Battlefield, and Foreign Farmer live in Chicago at Waiting4the Bus 8/19/13 (Canon)

video 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).

video 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 Chicago poet reading her poem “Enough’s Enough” from her “Janet with HA!” show, her poem “Original Snowbirds” from her “This Just In” show, and her poem “Only Choice is to Build” from her “Life and Death and Everything Between” show, all read from her book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, live 9/15/18 at “Recycled Reads” (PLT56).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers Chicago poet reading her poem “Enough’s Enough” from her “Janet with HA!” show, her poem “Original Snowbirds” from her “This Just In” show, and her poem “Only Choice is to Build” from her “Life and Death and Everything Between” show, all read from her book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, live 9/15/18 at “Recycled Reads” (PL2500).

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

Enough’s Enough
Janet Kuypers
for the 10/3/12 show with the HA!man of South Africa
6/17/12
(but sometimes speaking is the problem...)
Once when I was in Bad Gastein,
      where the Alps in Austria
      gave every street in town
      a sixty-degree incline,
I signed up for a bus tour
to go to the radon cave
at a nearby mining mountain.
Waiting outside for the bus,
I stood with something like seventeen
German-speaking Austrians.
There I felt so out of my element
that I was almost dying
for an American voice saying any words.
That’s when I then heard
a boisterous baritone,
so I made my way
to the booming,
distinctly American voice.
I merely asked,
“American?”
The large man heard my inflection
and immediately spoke.
“Hi, I’m Frank,
and the little missus here is Mildred,”
and this petite, subservient Midwestern woman,
standing with this almost circular melodramatic man,
made this couple look
like the perfect ten...
Frank asked where I was from,
and when I said Chicago
he sprung up to start on his speech,
schlepping his speil:
“We’re from Detroit.
I Worked for GM for 35 years,
and now that the kids are gone,
with my pension
I thought I’d take the little missus here to see the Alps...”
And that’s when I realized
that I could have stood
at fifty paces
and still heard Frank
telling the entire neighborhood
the epic of his life.
That’s when it occurred to me
how loud us Americans could be.
Because when first traveling through Europe
after the “war on terror” began,
the United States governemnt and airlines
wanted to inform Americans traveling abroad
that if they were concerned
about being a conspicuous target
by looking too American,
they offered these simple guidelines:
Don’t wear a University sweatshirt.
Don’t wear a sports team baseball cap.
Don’t chew gum.
Don’t yell.
      And I could imagine Frank now,
      yelling, “Mildred!”
So I made a point
to not sit near Frank and Mildred
on that bus,
but that was okay:
I could still hear them
from rows away
as we made our way
to the mountain range.
And to the Austrians on that tour
who spoke English,
a part of me wanted to tell them,
“Not all Americans are that loud,”
because even if us Americans
want to rest on our laurels,
some of us know
when enough’s enough.

Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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

Like Janet Kuypers’ writing on any of these links below:

my hand to an anim of jkchair