poem “Surmising the Semblance (dreams 4/14/20)”, a poem based on a dream Kuypers had that morning, of witnessing a paper-thin man be treated cruelly by his servant until he died, leaving his grandchildren lost at the concept of death, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Orangello”, written on 9/1, on National No Rhyme (No Reason) Day and read from the Janet Kuypers poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume Two: July-December)”, then her poem “Surmising the Semblance (dreams 4/14/20)” live 8/27/20 during the Virtual Austin Poetry Society New World Poetry open mic (this was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Orangello”, written on 9/1, on National No Rhyme (No Reason Day and read from the Janet Kuypers poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume Two: July-December)”, then her poem “Surmising the Semblance (dreams 4/14/20)” live 8/27/20 during the Virtual Austin Poetry Society New World Poetry open mic (filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera).

Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her Down in the Dirt 1-4/24 “The Limits of Language” book poems “Vacant Spaces (dreams 4/10/20)”, & “Surmising the Semblance (dreams 4/14/20)”, & “Travel Through Space” (+ showing show images 1 & 2) to close her “Poetic License 7/7/24 global open mic” through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 & a Samsung S9 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Link ed in, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
Also enjoy this as a Facebook live video stream that was filmed & streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera and given a Color Film filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Link ed in, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoeticlicense

Surmising the Semblance
(dreams 4/14/20)
Janet Kuypers
4/14/20
I don’t know who the man was
I could only surmise that he had not eaten
for he was so thin
that all you could see
was a paper-thin caricature
of what a human should be
you could not even define arms and legs,
there was barely a semblance of a face
I don’t know who the man was
but there was one child there, maybe two
wondering if
what I could only assume was their grandfather
would be okay
if he spoke, he yelled
but then again,
I can’t remember a thing he said
what I do remember
is that there was some sort of a hand-maid
or a servant, someone there to take care of him
and I remember seeing her pick him up
like a loose piece of paper
to move him to another couch
that reminded me of a therapist’s chair
and I thought,
the way she moved him seems so careless
like she was a woman who hated her job,
or maybe a woman who hated this man
but I can’t remember asking her
why she was treating him with no regard
so I turned and left the room,
entered another room
with one child in the far corner
and this is when I then heard
a child in the room with the paper-thin man
echo from what seemed miles away
“tell them he just died”
and I looked over at the child in the corner
that’s when I discovered the look
of abject
sadness
slide across his face
and I saw him exhale
tiny
repeated
silent
gasps
for he was crying deep inside
but outside,
this was all the energy
he had left to expend
witness to this macabre horror scene,
I didn’t even know who this man was
looking back,
I knew I didn’t belong here
no one should be witness to this
so I had to leave here, now

my hand to an anim of jkchair