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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers 1/21/17 reading her poems “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, “This Isn’t Fair”, and “I Never Took a Life Until I Took My Own” at the “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (video filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers 1/21/17 reading her poems “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, “This Isn’t Fair”, and “I Never Took a Life Until I Took My Own” at the “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (this video was filmed from a Sony camera).

See YouTube video from 1/21/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Quivering against the Invading Enemy” at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video from 1/21/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Quivering against the Invading Enemy” at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video 8/23/17 of Janet Kuypers’ poem “Knew I Had to be Ready”, then her show “Under My Skin”, with her poems “Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison”, “Ernesto”, “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, “The Truth Is Out There”, “x-raying metal under my skin”, “X-rays and broken hearts”, “unique noise”, “erasure poem: A Poetic History”, “Just One Book”, and “Returning to Georgetown)” (this video was filmed from a Sony camera).

See YouTube video 8/23/17 of the Janet Kuypers’ poem “Knew I Had to be Ready”, then her show “Under My Skin”, with her poems “Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison”, “Ernesto”, “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, “The Truth Is Out There”, “x-raying metal under my skin”, “X-rays and broken hearts”, “unique noise”, “erasure poem: A Poetic History”, “Just One Book”, and “Returning to Georgetown)” (from a Panasonic Lumix camera; Hard Light filter).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ April 2018 Book Release Reading 4/4/18, where she first read her haiku “He’s An Escapist” from the 4/18 book “War of Water” from cc&d, then she read her Down in the Dirt 3/18 book “My Name Is Nobody” haiku and short poems “judge”, “quarrel”, “Every Street Corner”, and “Poem About This”, before reading her longer poem “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ April 2018 Book Release Reading 4/4/18, where she first read her haiku “He’s An Escapist” from the 4/18 book “War of Water” from cc&d, then she read her Down in the Dirt 3/18 book “My Name Is Nobody” haiku and short poems “judge”, “quarrel”, “Every Street Corner”, and “Poem About This”, before reading her longer poem “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera, and then it was given an Edge Detection filter).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ April 2018 Book Release Reading 4/4/18, where she first read her haiku “He’s An Escapist” from the 4/18 book “War of Water” from cc&d, then she read her Down in the Dirt 3/18 book “My Name Is Nobody” haiku and short poems “judge”, “quarrel”, “Every Street Corner”, and “Poem About This”, before reading her longer poem “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; Posterize).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ April 2018 Book Release Reading 4/4/18, where she first read her haiku “He’s An Escapist” from the 4/18 book “War of Water” from cc&d, then she read her Down in the Dirt 3/18 book “My Name Is Nobody” haiku and short poems “judge”, “quarrel”, “Every Street Corner”, and “Poem About This”, before reading her longer poem “Quivering against the Invading Enemy”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; Threshold).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ March 2019 Book Release Reading 3/6/19, where she read her “Under My Skin” show poems “Ernesto”, “Quivering Against the Invading Enemy”, and “X-Rays and Broken Hearts”, all from her poetry performance art collection book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ March 2019 Book Release Reading 3/6/19, where she read her “Under My Skin” poems “Ernesto”, “Quivering Against the Invading Enemy”, & “X-Rays and Broken Hearts”, from her poetry performance art collection book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; Sepia Tone).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ March 2019 Book Release Reading 3/6/19, where she read her “Under My Skin” show poems “Ernesto”, “Quivering Against the Invading Enemy”, and “X-Rays and Broken Hearts”, all from her poetry performance art collection book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ March 2019 Book Release Reading 3/6/19, where she read her “Under My Skin” poems “Ernesto”, “Quivering Against the Invading Enemy”, & “X-Rays and Broken Hearts”, from her poetry performance art collection book “Chapter 48 (v2)”, in Community Poetry @ Half Price Books (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; Posterize).

Quivering against the Invading Enemy Janet Kuypers 1/20/17 Watching from afar, I was unable to remove the things from within my mother’s human skin. The skin that held together the woman who took care of her husband and her five children. The skin that held together after the first invasion under her skin, battling breast cancer, cervical cancer. I’ve learned the science — it’s only when certain cells in the body are changed, and start to divide uncontrollably that you arise to destroy us. Sounds simple enough. And with just a few rounds of surgery you weren’t attacking her from under her skin anymore. And after seven years, she was in the clear and didn’t need to check in with the doctor again, until ten years, she felt tired, had a fever, and doctors said it’s funny, with that much cancer in your history, it kind of makes sense that you’d get leukemia. Funny, isn’t it. Something managed to turn some of her cells into dividing fiends, so she just got rid of it. But trying to remove the devil from your blood is another evil, insidious, sticky story altogether. And she wanted to fight, but she saw the way her father fought cancer for six years, and she remembered his agony, and how in the last two weeks of his life she wanted her father to die, just so he was no longer in pain. It sounds cruel, but fighting an enemy in your blood will make the insane seem perfectly reasonable. So remember, expect nothing less when you’re suddenly fighting an enemy from within — when you’re fighting an enemy from under your skin.

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