In an effort to read material from her books for later release as part of audio CD releases of her books, Janet Kuypers chose to read poems and short prose on May 31th from her book Close Cover Before Striking (which is now in it’s 2nd printing, with a cover of matches, versus it’s original neon green cover).
Open mic readers and the evening’s feature at the Café weekely poetry open mic she hosts in Chicago got a real kick out of the bent of the writings chosen for this reading set, because these poems focused more on the effects on urban violence in society (the book covers many topics, but this was a selection from the beginning of the book with shorter pieces).
Follow the links below to read, see or hear poetry and short prose from this live Chicago book reading.
a feature-length video at the Café
of Kuypers reading her poems and prose (read from the ISBN# book Close Cover Before Striking), “The Carpet Factory, the Shoes”, “Taking Out the Brain”, “Tell Me”, “All the Loose Ends”, “Filled with Such Panic”, “Leaving for Work”, “Accounts for the Need of Gun Control, January 1995”, “Me or Him”, “Gun Dealers and Gas Stations”, and “Domestic Violence in America, Nashville TN (stick)”
See YouTube video (19:36) of Kuypers 05/31/11 at the Café reading her writing:The Carpet Factory the Shoes, Taking Out the Brain, Tell Me, All the Loose Ends, Filled with Such Panic, Leaving for Work, Accounts for the Need of Gun Control, January 1995, Me or Him, Gun Dealers and Gas Stations, and Domestic Violence in America Nashville TN (stick)
...on to the poems:
(in the order they were read during the show)
Janet Kuypers reading her poem The Carpet Factory, the Shoes