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video See YouTube video live 3/1/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Original Snowbirds” during her “3/1/17 Book Release Reading” at Half Price Books Community Poetry (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem
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See YouTube video live 3/1/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Original Snowbirdsat Half Price Books Community Poetry (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera, then given a Posterize filter).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 3/4/17 poetry show “Exploring Spring” at “Spring Awakenings” in Austin reading her poems “Spring”, “Entering the War Room”, “Job that Only Paid the Bills”, “Killing the Survivor Bug”, “Springtime”, and “Original Snowbirds” with video for the music, &s accompanying bird sounds (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 3/4/17 poetry show “Exploring Spring” at “Spring Awakenings” in Austin reading her poems “Spring”, “Entering the War Room”, “Job that Only Paid the Bills”, “Killing the Survivor Bug”, “Springtime”, and “Original Snowbirds” with video for the music, &s accompanying bird sounds (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow.
Exploring Spring - poems from Janet Kuypers Exploring Spring - poems from Janet Kuypers View or download the free PDF chapbook
Exploring Spring
of her poems “Spring”, “Entering the War Room”, “Job that Only Paid the Bills”, “Killing the Survivor Bug”, “Springtime”, and “Original Snowbirds” performed in her 3/4/17 show.
video See YouTube video 3/5/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her 3 poems “Scars 1997”, “Gift of Motherhood II”, and “Original Snowbirds” live at “Kick Butt Poetry” in Austin (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry
video See YouTube video 3/5/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her 3 poems “Scars 1997”, “Gift of Motherhood II”, and “Original Snowbirds” live at “Kick Butt Poetry” in Austin (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry
video See YouTube video from 3/11/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Original Snowbirds” and “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand” at “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video from 3/11/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Original Snowbirds” and “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand” at “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (video filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
Hear SoundCloud audio of Janet Kuypers sharing her poetry from her two JanetJanet books, “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” (w/ her poems “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Earth was Crying”, “Just Thinking About It”, “Political Merry-Go-Round”, “Ernesto”, “Endings Bring Light”, and “Everyone Celebrates Together”) in her Chicago 88.3 FM WZRD Radio interview 8/26/17, Part 1.
See YouTube video of part 1 of the Janet Kuypers interview on video WZRD 88.3 FM Chicago Radio 8/24/17, with her reading poetry from her two books “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems”, including “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Earth was Crying”, “Just Thinking About It”, “Political Merry-Go-Round”, “Ernesto”, “Endings Bring Light”, and “Everyone Celebrates Together” (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersinterview #janetkuypersradio #janetkuyperschicago
See YouTube video of part 1 of the Janet Kuypers interview on video WZRD 88.3 FM Chicago Radio 8/24/17, with her reading poetry from her two books “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems”, including “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Earth was Crying”, “Just Thinking About It”, “Political Merry-Go-Round”, “Ernesto”, “Endings Bring Light”, and “Everyone Celebrates Together” (this video was filmed from a Lumix camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersinterview #janetkuypersradio #janetkuyperschicago
video See YouTube video 8/22/17 of the Janet Kuypers show “This Just In”, with her poems “Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”, “erasure poem: A Poetic History”, “Just One Book”, “Newspaper Ink’s the Blood of a Dying Species”, “Elusive Imaginary Creature”, “Your Imaginary Soul Weighs 21 Grams”, “Yearning to Break Free” and “Just By Holding His Hand (extreme 2016 sestina variation)” (video from a Panasonic Lumix camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetryshow
video See YouTube video 8/22/17 of the Janet Kuypers show “This Just In”, with her poems “Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”, “erasure poem: A Poetic History”, “Just One Book”, “Newspaper Ink’s the Blood of a Dying Species”, “Elusive Imaginary Creature”, “Your Imaginary Soul Weighs 21 Grams”, “Yearning to Break Free” and “Just By Holding His Hand (extreme 2016 sestina variation)” (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetryshow
video See YouTube video 9/21/17 of Janet Kuypers in her show “Seasons Change”, with her poems “True Happiness in the New Millennium (2017 Dripping Springs edit)”, “Knew I Had to be Ready”, “Original Snowbirds” (in her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems”), “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs / Bahá’í Faith Center edit)”, “Marry you in Autumn”, “Sepia Leaves”, “Quell the Vibrancy”, “Seasons 1998”, and “Death Takes Many Forms” (Panasonic Lumix camera).
video See YouTube video 9/21/17 of Janet Kuypers in her show “Seasons Change”, with her poems “True Happiness in the New Millennium (2017 Dripping Springs edit)”, “Knew I Had to be Ready”, “Original Snowbirds” (in her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems”), “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs / Bahá’í Faith Center edit)”, “Marry you in Autumn”, “Sepia Leaves”, “Quell the Vibrancy”, “Seasons 1998”, and “Death Takes Many Forms” (filmed from a Sony camera).
Seasons Change
Download all of these songs & poems in the free PDF file chapbook
Seasons Change Seasons Change with “True Happiness in the New Millennium (2017 Dripping Springs edit)”, “Knew I Had to be Ready”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs / Bahá’í Faith Center edit)”, “Marry you in Autumn”, “Sepia Leaves”, “Quell the Vibrancy”, “Seasons 1998”, and “Death Takes Many Forms”.
video 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).
video 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).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “run faster”, “Why I’ll Never Get Married”, “Communication (2020 edit)”, “ways to spend your money” (done in an alternate voice), “Vegetarian Stands by the Meat Sale”, “Original Snowbirds”, and “Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison” from the the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 3/7/21” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoeticlicense
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “run faster”, “Why I’ll Never Get Married”, “Communication (2020 edit)”, “ways to spend your money” (done in an alternate voice), “Vegetarian Stands by the Meat Sale”, “Original Snowbirds”, and “Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison” from the the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 3/7/21” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoeticlicense #janetkuypersinstagram
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “run faster”, “Why I’ll Never Get Married”, “Communication (2020 edit)”, “ways to spend your money” (done in an alternate voice), “Vegetarian Stands by the Meat Sale”, “Original Snowbirds”, and “Protecting Peace can Put you in PrisonEternal Bever Ending Now from the the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 3/7/21” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Original Snowbirds

Janet Kuypers
2/17/17

I’d like to tell you a story about a bird.
It’s fair to say this is the original snowbird.

In Hawaii, the Kolea is the Pacific Golden Plover.
These foraging birds hang out in Hawaii

until it is spring, where they’ve fattened up
for their over 2,000 mile nonstop flight to Alaska.

They have no waterproofing on their feathers,
so they don’t rest, but fly for 3 days straight.

And fossils found on Oahu even reveal
that plovers have done this 120,000 years.

Because in the spring, they fly up north,
and these birds spend three months in Alaska.

They reclaim last year’s breeding grounds
and incubate eggs, hatching in 25 days.

Momma and daddy bird leave the nest
just after the last chick hatches —

and predators like foxes, Jaegers & caribou
force the chicks to leave the nest.

In barely a month the chicks can then fly,
come August, which is when the parents then leave.

Now, these adult Plovers eat like mad,
gain 50% of their body fat

so they have fuel for their 3 day flight —
over 2,000 miles — to their Hawaiian home.

Yeah, you heard me right, every spring
these Pacific Golden Plovers, after bulking up,

make a 3 day nonstop flight up north
and lose 50% of their body mass doing it.

And right after their babies are ready to fly
and they’ve bulked up enough once more

they leave their babies to fend for themselves,
‘cuz these little ones can’t make the flight:

they don’t have the bulk to make the trip
and they never even learned how to navigate.

With Alaska summers they’ll never see stars —
or a night sky at all — until they fly south.

Maybe baby Plovers use earth’s magnetic field,
‘cuz it’s a miracle when they do reach Hawaii.

But I’ve been told that when they return,
they arrive in Hawaii at the exact same spot,

year after year, for up to 20 years, and
annually are welcomed by the natives.

We think we understand the seasons.
But in Hawaii they mark the seasons

by the coming and going of the Kolea,
the Hawaiian word that mimics the sounds

of the Pacific Golden Plovers, the parents and
their babies, ‘cuz they mark the passage of time.


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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





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