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


video
video not yet rated


Watch this
YouTube video

live at Beach Poets 07/13/08

video
video 07/13/08, Beach poets
Watch the entire performance video, which contains this poem
(25:19) This film is from the Internet Archive
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
read live 10/04/11 in the the Café show 10/04/11, with music & video from the HA!man of South Africa
video video Watch this Complete feature video of Kuypers live 10/04/11 in the the Café show 10/04/11, performing poetry with music & video from the HA!man of South Africa
video video Watch this Complete feature video of the FULL SHOW of most everyone performing live 10/04/11 at the Café for Chicago Calling, including Kuypers performing poetry with accompanying music & video
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poetry in multiple rounds during her hosting the “Poetic License” 11/3/19 open mic at Austin’s “Recycled Reads”. In round 1 she reads her poem “Keep Your Chin Up” that she wrote that day (11/3/19) because November 3rd is cliché day, as the opening to the open mic. In round 2 she reads her poem “Death” from the Poetry Wheel 6/26/08, then her poems “Gift of Motherhood One”, “Thank You, Women Who Work One”, “Coslow’s”, “Childhood Memories One”, “Christmas Eve”, and “There I Sit” from her “Slinging the Word” chapbook and Chicago WLUW Radio interview 3/18/08, and her poems “Alexi”, “a New Patient”, “Catching a Muscovy”, “Changing the Locks”, and “Childhood Memories Five” from her Poems on the Beach 7/13/08 Chicago Beach Poets feature and all read from the cc&d 2019 re-release of the May 2008 v184 book “That was the Time”. In round 3 she reads her poems “Climbing Trees”, “Conscious of It”, “False Suicide”, “Hiding Vices”, “Twin”, “Masquerade”, “Raking Leaves”, “They Called It Trust”, and “They Tried” from her Poems on the Beach 7/13/08 Chicago Beach Poets feature and all read from the cc&d 2019 re-release of the May 2008 v184 book “That was the Time”. (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; and it was also posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poetry in multiple rounds during her hosting the “Poetic License” 11/3/19 open mic at Austin’s “Recycled Reads”. In round 1 she reads her poem “Keep Your Chin Up” that she wrote that day (11/3/19) because November 3rd is cliché day, as the opening to the open mic. In round 2 she reads her poem “Death” from the Poetry Wheel 6/26/08, then her poems “Gift of Motherhood One”, “Thank You, Women Who Work One”, “Coslow’s”, “Childhood Memories One”, “Christmas Eve”, and “There I Sit” from her “Slinging the Word” chapbook and Chicago WLUW Radio interview 3/18/08, and her poems “Alexi”, “a New Patient”, “Catching a Muscovy”, “Changing the Locks”, and “Childhood Memories Five” from her Poems on the Beach 7/13/08 Chicago Beach Poets feature and all read from the cc&d 2019 re-release of the May 2008 v184 book “That was the Time”. In round 3 she reads her poems “Climbing Trees”, “Conscious of It”, “False Suicide”, “Hiding Vices”, “Twin”, “Masquerade”, “Raking Leaves”, “They Called It Trust”, and “They Tried” from her Poems on the Beach 7/13/08 Chicago Beach Poets feature and all read from the cc&d 2019 re-release of the May 2008 v184 book “That was the Time”. (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; and it was also posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram & Tumblr).

They Tried

they tried to hold me down
they tried to keep me in
they didn’t understand
“I was different”
they said
as day after day
I led my life
with the interrogation
lamp shining in my face

they tried to change me
they tried to bend my will
they wanted to break me
“We don’t like you”
they said
but every day
I faced the battle
in splendid silence
knowing that all like me
would understand me
and thank me

they tried to make me beg
they tried to make me cry
they wanted me to conform
“We don’t need your type”
they said
and I ignored them
for I couldn’t let those
who didn’t understand
and didn’t want to learn
or respect
or treat me as human
destroy me


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