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Hurry Up and Wait Janet Kuypers 05/30/09     People are rushing, don’t have time for breakfast after you slammed the alarm snooze button three times, stumble out of bed, you’re clean enough, forget the shower, clean up your face, smooth your hair, put on your work clothes, grab the briefcase, lock the door, speed up but avoid the sweat of a near sprint to make it to the el train, the bus stop. You can grab a muffin and coffee once you get into work, you think, as your light pant doesn’t change once you’ve stopped at the stop. You’ve still got places to be, check your watch, look down the street, where is your carrier, you need that vehicle to get you to where you need to be. Pace a bit. Adjust your clothes. Check your watch again. This is corporate America, you think, hurry up and wait.     The world rotates over a hundred thousand miles an hour. Everything is spinning. Observe the world. See more and more, but feel connected less and less.     Is it possible to relax where you least expect to? ###     When people would take smoke breaks at work, you know, 20 minutes outside their office highrise every other hour, I thought, if they can take smoke breaks like that, I can take one or two 40-minute breaks a day to walk up and down those 42 flights of stairs. At least it’s healthier than smoking.     Well, if I can do things like that, if I can pick up recyclable garbage left on the street after thinking people are pigs for throwing recyclable trash out like that (because if I don’t do something after I complain I’m almost as bad as they are), if I can make choices like that, maybe I can look for peace, or even meditate, anywhere.     Even at a bus stop.     If you could find some time to just stop, after an hour the earth would have moved six hundred thousand miles.     I wonder, when the world is spinning like this, if you could meditate, mentally step outside it all. Gain a new perspective. Come to peace with everything.     I wonder what people think of me if I do this.     But I wanted to see if I could finally relax. Copyright © 2009 Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.

Watch this YouTube video Live at One Acts (camera #1, 07/06/09

See another YouTube video Live at One Acts (camera #2, 07/06/09

Watch the full show “One Acts” (from camera #1) live 7/6/09 This film is from the Internet Archive (this video appearing on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, & Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperschicago #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersfeature

Watch the full show of One Acts (7/5/09, camera @#035;2). (this video appears on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperschicago #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersfeature

Watch this YouTube video (2:44) read from the April 2011 issue (v093) of Down in the Dirt magazine (which is also available as a 6" x 9" ISBN# book Wake Up and Smell the Flowerslive 04/05/11 at the Café in Chicago

Watch this YouTube video of the intro to the 04/05/11 open mic at the Café in Chicago as well as original writing, including this piece

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her prose Hurry Up and Wait 7/9/16 at Native South Food Park poetry and music event in Austin TX (from an iPhone).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her prose Hurry Up And Wait 7/9/16 at Native South Food Park poetry and music event in Austin TX (filmed with an iPhone, and given an Edge Detection filter).

See YouTube video from 4/15/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Poem About This”, “Frozen Together” and her prose poem “Hurry Up and Wait”, then reading a portion of her short story “Crazy” at “Recycled Reads” in Austin(from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera).

See YouTube video from 4/15/17 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Poem About This”, “Frozen Together” and her prose poem “Hurry Up and Wait”, then reading a portion of her short story “Crazy” at “Recycled Reads” in Austin (Canon video with a Threshold filter).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge”, then her prosepoem “Hurry up and Wait”written and first performed in her “One Acts” show and read from her performance art poetry book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, then she sang, with John on guitar, the George Michael song “Waiting (Reprise)” live 1/24/17 at “Thirsty Thursday” in Dripping Springs (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Waiting to Take the Plunge”, then her prose poem “Hurry up and Wait”written and first performed in her “One Acts” show and read from her performance art poetry book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, then she sang, with John on guitar, the George Michael song “Waiting (Reprise)” live 1/24/17 at “Thirsty Thursday” in Dripping Springs (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).