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video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers, welcomed on stage, where she performed from memory her poem exhaling toxic fumes as a story 1/10/16 with music at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
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See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers, welcomed on stage, where she performed from memory her poem exhaling toxic fumes as a story 1/10/16 with music at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (Cps camera w/ E.D.).
“Drop the Bomb” 4/30/17 chapbook
View or download the free PDF chapbook
“Drop the Bomb” 4/30/17
of all of the short Janet Kuypers poems she read from her live 4/30/17 reading in Austin’s 2017 Poetry Bomb (plus one bonus poem).
video See YouTube video from 4/30/17 of Janet Kuypers performing her “Drop the Bomb” poems for Austin’s 2017 Poetry Bomb, with control, earth, enjoy, unbounded, Just Thinking About It, Kick Someone Out, Lades and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Exhaling Toxic Fumes, Jumping from the Mausoleum, Just to be On the Safe Side, Nobody Finds Me, Bored the Night Before 9/11, energy, errors, rescue, This is Only a Test, You, Only Searching, Ugly Babies need the Most Love, Bimbo, Good Escape, Goth Girl Photographer, Koala Porn, Occupy, On a Downtown Chicago Light Pole, On This Ride, Marne Rifle Poem, No Thank You, He makes me Think about These Things, (and you could hold me), & From Words to Wars (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetrybomb
video See Facebook live video on 4/30/17 of the first part of Janet Kuypers’ “Drop the Bomb” poem series she read for Austin’s 2017 Poetry Bomb, with the ending of Kick Someone Out, Lades and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Exhaling Toxic Fumes, Jumping from the Mausoleum, Just to be On the Safe Side, Nobody Finds Me, Bored the Night Before 9/11, energy, errors, rescue, This is Only a Test, You, Only Searching, Ugly Babies need the Most Love, Bimbo, Good Escape, Goth Girl Photographer, Koala Porn, Occupy, On a Downtown Chicago Light Pole, On This Ride, and Marne Rifle Poem (from a Samsung Galaxy S7 smart phone).
video See YouTube video on 4/30/17 of the first part of Janet Kuypers’ “Drop the Bomb” poem series she read for Austin’s 2017 Poetry Bomb, with the ending of Kick Someone Out, Lades and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Exhaling Toxic Fumes, Jumping from the Mausoleum, Just to be On the Safe Side, Nobody Finds Me, Bored the Night Before 9/11, energy, errors, rescue, This is Only a Test, You, Only Searching, Ugly Babies need the Most Love, Bimbo, Good Escape, Goth Girl Photographer, Koala Porn, Occupy, On a Downtown Chicago Light Pole, On This Ride, and Marne Rifle Poem (facebook live video with a Threshold filter).
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See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Unique Noise”, “One who Has Too Much” and “Exhaling Toxic Fumes” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” 8/6/17 at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (Sony).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Unique Noise”, “One who Has Too Much” and “Exhaling Toxic Fumes” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” 8/6/17 at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (Lumix).

exhaling toxic fumes

Janet Kuypers
1/13/16

so he and his friends
bring me to some party
in some stranger’s house

and one of his friends
says to me, “I’m buying
a balloon here. Wanna hit?”

and I’m guessing it’s
a whip-its balloon, but
I’m not even sure

if it’s laughing gas or what,
but wait, isn’t nitrous oxide
the teen party gas of choice?

But I really wasn’t sure,
so I thought I’d be safe
and say I’ll do it

if my friend does it
(and I really thought my
friend wouldn’t do it).

So his friend turns to him
and asks, and he says,
sure.

            Oh. So that backfired...
and I never got the chance
to ask what on earth

it was I was inhaling
before his friend came back,
inflated balloon in hand.

They told us to just
on the couch. So we did.
“Just take a hit,

lean back and close
your eyes,” he said.
So my friend went first,

handed me the balloon,
and like a good student
I did as I was told.

And it seemed that
almost suddenly
the party music slowed,

even the conversations
that echoed around me.
And that’s when he hit me —

wait a minute,
it’s not like that,
he was next to me

and he just tapped my leg
with the back of his hand. So I
did the same thing back.

Then he brushed his hand
against me leg again.
So again, I reciprocated.

And my eyes were closed
and he just kept doing this,
just kept tapping my leg.

So it had to happen
like twelve times,
and then it occurred to me

that the music stopped.
So I opened my eyes
to look over at him,

and he was just staring
at me with saucers for eyes.
After a moment I asked,

“You weren’t hitting me,
were you?” And he said
no.

        So I just looked around
realizing I may be better off
grounded in reality instead.


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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



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