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See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” live 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago (this video was filmed from a Canon camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago (Watercolor, Canon)

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago (Threshold, Canon)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” live 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem)

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago (Film Age - older, Sony)

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago (Posterize, Sony)

See YouTube video of Kuypers hosting the open mic 3/13/13 at the Café Gallery in Chicago, plus her reading this poem

See YouTube video 2/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation) at the Poetry Plus open mic at Cianfrani’s on the Square in Georgetown TX (Canon Power Shot).

See YouTube video 2/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her 2 poems The Fourteenth & Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation), and then her 2 poems There I Sit & Writing Your Name as one, at the Poetry Plus open mic at Cianfrani’s on the Square in Georgetown TX (filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 10/7/17 show “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” @ “Expressions Welcomes Autumn!” in Austin, performing her poems “Sepia Leaves”, “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs/Bahá’í Center edit)”, “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, “And I’m Wondering”, “Just by Holding his Hand”, “Marry You in Autumn”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, performed with the HA!Man of South Africa’s music “the Ice is Melting” and a rotating art display (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 10/7/17 show “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” @ “Expressions Welcomes Autumn!” in Austin, performing her poems “Sepia Leaves”, “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs/Bahá’í Center edit)”, “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, “And I’m Wondering”, “Just by Holding his Hand”, “Marry You in Autumn”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, with background music from the HA!Man of South Africa’s “the Ice is Melting”, cricket sounds in the background and a random rotating art display (Lumix camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

View the 10/7/17 show poems in the free PDF file chapbook “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” containing the poems &“Sepia Leaves”, “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs/Bahá’í Center edit)”, “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, “And I’m Wondering”, “Just by Holding his Hand”, “Marry You in Autumn”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”.

See YouTube video from 6/6/18 of Janet Kuypers’ June 2018 Book Release Reading, where she read her Down in the Dirt Jan.-Apr. 2018 issue collection book “At Midnight” poems “rush”, “lost”, and “Only Half the Story”, then two poems from her “Eleven” chapbook, “Under the Sea” and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (sestina)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See YouTube video from 6/6/18 of Janet Kuypers’ June 2018 Book Release Reading, where she read her Down in the Dirt Jan.-Apr. 2018 issue collection book “At Midnight” poems “rush”, “lost”, and “Only Half the Story”, then two poems from her “Eleven” chapbook, “Under the Sea” and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (sestina)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books, PLT56ED.

See YouTube video from 6/6/18 of Janet Kuypers’ June 2018 Book Release Reading, where she read her Down in the Dirt Jan.-Apr. 2018 issue collection book “At Midnight” poems “rush”, “lost”, and “Only Half the Story”, then two poems from her “Eleven” chapbook, “Under the Sea” and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (sestina)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books, PLT56ST.

See YouTube video from 6/6/18 of Janet Kuypers’ June 2018 Book Release Reading, where she read her Down in the Dirt Jan.-Apr. 2018 issue collection book “At Midnight” poems “rush”, “lost”, and “Only Half the Story”, then two poems from her “Eleven” chapbook, “Under the Sea” and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (sestina)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books, PLT56Th.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” & “Observer’s Love Poem” from her chapbook “Eleven”, and then her eleven-themed new poem “popular and useless” (with a selfie with the audience) live 6/10/18 at “Spoken and Heard” @ Kick Butt Coffee (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” & “Observer’s Love Poem” from her chapbook “Eleven”, and then her eleven-themed new poem “popular and useless” (with a selfie with the audience) live 6/10/18 at “Spoken and Heard” @ Kick Butt Coffee (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers in her 6/11/18 poetry show “Eleven” in Austin, with her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500; appearing on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersfeature

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers in her 6/11/18 poetry show “Eleven” in Austin, with her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and then it was given an Edge Detection filter).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers in her 6/11/18 poetry show “Eleven” in Austin, with her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and then it was given a Hue Cycling filter).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers in her 6/11/18 poetry show “Eleven” in Austin, with her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and then it was given a Posterize filter).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers in her 6/11/18 poetry show “Eleven” in Austin, with her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and then it was given a Sepia Tone filter).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers in her 6/11/18 poetry show “Eleven” in Austin, with her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and then it was given a Threshold filter).

Read all of the poems from the Janet Kuypers poetry show in her 6/11/18 poetry chapbook for her show “Eleven” containing her poems “Under the Sea”, “The Burning”, “Right There, By Your Heart (verses 2 & 6)”, “What We Need in Life”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “The Things They Did To You (5/8/18 edit)”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Death is a Dog”, and “September 11, 2001”, “Ocean’s Call to Dive”, and “Observer’s Love Poem”.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ September 2018 Book Release Reading 9/5/18, where she read her “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” poetry “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” from the cc&d 9-10/18 book “Faces”, in Community Poetry! at Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ September 2018 Book Release Reading 9/5/18, where she read her “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” poetry “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” from the cc&d 9-10/18 book “Faces”, in Community Poetry! at Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ October 2018 Book Release Reading 10/3/18, where she read her “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” poetry “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” from the cc&d 9-10/18 book “Faces”, then her poem “And I’m Wondering” from the Down in the Dirt 9-10/18 book “Spitfire”, during Community Poetry! at Half Price Books (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 ca,era).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ October 2018 Book Release Reading 10/3/18, where she read her “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” poetry “Who You Tell Your Dreams To”, “You and Me and Your Girlfriend”, “The Way You Tease Me”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (extreme sestina variation)” from the cc&d 9-10/18 book “Faces”, then her poem “And I’m Wondering” from the Down in the Dirt 9-10/18 book “Spitfire”, during Community Poetry! at Half Price Books (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video 12/2/18 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “And I’m Wondering”, & “Just by Holding His Hand”, from the Scars Publications 2018 collections book “Still Life” at “Recycled Reads” (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video 12/2/18 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “And I’m Wondering”, & “Just by Holding His Hand”, from the Scars Publications 2018 collections book “Still Life” at “Recycled Reads” (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video 12/8/18 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “The Way You Tease Me”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, & “Just by Holding His Hand”, from the Scars Publications 2018 collections book “Still Life” at “Poetry Aloud” (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video 12/8/18 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “The Way You Tease Me”, “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, & “Just by Holding His Hand”, from the Scars Publications 2018 collections book “Still Life” at “Poetry Aloud” (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ May 2019 Book Release Reading 5/1/19, where she read her “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Sepia Leaves”, “And I’m Wondering”, “Marry you in Autumn” and “Just by Holding His Hand”, all read from the cc&d September-December 2018 issue and chapbook collection book “This is Where I Live”, during Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetryshow

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ May 2019 Book Release Reading 5/1/19, where she read her “in Autumn, Love is in the Air” poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)”, “Sepia Leaves”, “And I’m Wondering”, “Marry you in Autumn” and “Just by Holding His Hand”, all read from the cc&d September-December 2018 issue and chapbook collection book “This is Where I Live”, during Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetryshow

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Just By Holding His Hand”, “The Way You Tease Me”, “There I Sit”, “And I’m Wondering”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary(an extreme sestina variation)” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now”, read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Looking for a Worthy Adversary(an extreme sestina variation)” and “Us, Actually Touching” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now”, read 4/7/21 during the Chicago “In One Ear” open mic Zoom meeting (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry

See a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her “Just By Holding His Hand”, “The Way You Tease Me”, “There I Sit”, “And I’m Wondering”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now”, read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (video from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).  #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Just By Holding His Hand”, “The Way You Tease Me”, “There I Sit”, “And I’m Wondering”, and “Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation)” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now”, read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

Looking for a Worthy Adversary (an extreme sestina variation) Janet Kuypers (original written 1987, edited for 3/13/12 performance 3/12/13) I’ve been looking for a worthy adversary someone I can lock horns with — though my life makes more sense when I’m alone it’s not nearly as interesting alone, it’s not nearly as intreesting, so I look for a worthy adversary someone I can battle to the death with because it can’t be about love, you see love can’t exist on the terms I demand it’s never that pure what I demand is never that pure, as I’m looking for a worthy adversary I slither up to you like a snake and I tempt you with a golden apple I tempt you with that golden apple but all I’m offering you is fruit from the tree of knowledge this snake gives you the tree of knowledge because all this time I’ve been playing a part an actress on stage, spouting lines on cue but that role was tiresome, those lights came on night after night and I still had to play my part I played my part until my night off, where I saw your show your protagonist was doing what I was doing right down to faking it with those who don’t matter right down to going home and still feeling empty I play my part, I still feel empty but I liked to see your boiling emotion underneath no one else could see I know what that emotion really means when I know what that emotion really means I wonder if we can get together and write our own play if we wrote our own play, it would be a masterful performance curtains would close, we’d hold each other’s hands as we leave the stage and the audience would know there’s a happy ending when I know there’s a happy ending I walk out on to the set and there you stand, in front, stage left I wait for my cue to make my move none of the rest of the scene matters if the rest of the scene doesn’t really matter, I wonder if the audience would see what we have... maybe they’d like our little play, maybe they wouldn’t who really cares who really cares because after I tempted you you now tempt me and tease me and torment me and tell me everything I was afraid to believe I was afraid to believe and now you talk, you reach your hand into my brain and pull out my thoughts and shove them into your mouth and spit them back at me you spit my thoughts back at me again and instead of filling me with terror it fills me with joy it fills me with joy because I thought I’d lock horns with that worthy adversary — but now every day is like Valentine’s Day, it’s like candy and flowers and springtime and hearts and cupids and sunshine and these cliches are beginning to make sense no longer locking horns, and everything making sense, I stand here like a statue after the performance of our lifetime and wait for the reviews as I wait for the reviews I wonder what they’ll say though none of it matters none of it matters because I know what you are going to say it’s everything that I’ve always wanted to say all I ever wanted to say is now you, taking my thoughts again and shoving them into your mouth again and spitting them back at me again so I will wait for you to come on stage again where we have our happy ending and you tell me what I already know

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