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

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live at 6/11 in Chicago 6&$047;11/02

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to the CD recording for the 6&$047;11/02 performance art show 6/11

(5:21)
the Burning and Death Takes Many Forms from the show 6/11 6&$047;11/02; This film is from the Internet Archive

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to The DMJ Art Connection, off the CD Manic Depressive or Something

or Listen to & download

this from the DMJ Art Connection

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to the CD recording of this piece used with the performance art show Death Comes in Threes 03/18/03

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Live at the Cafe,
now available in a 3 CD set

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of this poem read live in Chicago 09/12/03 at the “the Cycle of Life” DvA art gallery show

Or See FULL video
from the Internet Archive of the whole live the Cycle of Life DvA art gallery 09/12/03 Chicago show

Listen

to the live track (1:54, 09/12/03) or listen

to the studio track (1:32, 10/25/06) from the DvA Art Gallery Chicago 09/12/03 performance The Cycle of Life.

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to this radio recording
from WZRD Radio (in a 2 CD set)

See YouTube video
(10/03/06, TV show, the Lake County Poets Society, on TV 4 times, 12/06)

See YouTube video
11/17/99, live at the mini feature at, Yammer

See video, 4:46, live 11/17/99 at the open mic Yammer (from the Internet Archive)

(6:46) the Poems The Burning & Death Takes Many Forms from the 6&$047;11/02 show 6/11
from the Internet Archive

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from Kiki, Jake & Haytstack, off the CD an american portrait

Listen (5:02)

(mixed 04/28/08) to this poetry, combined with music from the HA!Man of South Africa creating “from Chicago the South Africa”

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live 11/05/08, finale feature in Chicago at St. Paul’s, a desanctified church

See complete St. Paul’s 11/05/08 show in Chicago, with 11 poems live, filmed from above in the choir seating of this desanctified church
(23:58, from the Internet Archive)

See complete feature video from the St. Paul’s 11/05/08 show in Chicago

(23:58) from the Internet Archive

Listen: (5:59)

to this recording from Fusion Or order any track from the CD Fusion off of iTunes...

Order this iTunes track:

from the poetry audio CD

etc.
...Or order the entire CD set
from iTunes
CD:

See YouTube video
listen:

(5:22) from the 6" x 9" ISBN# book Get Your Buzz On , live 03/01/11 at the Café in Chicago

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of the intro to the 03/01/11 open mic at the Café Chicago, &poems “Eating”, “Weren’t Even Married”, and “Death Takes Many Forms”

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of this poem read over video of her walking through the snowy woods in Gurnee, Illinois 01/03/11

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03/05/11 from the TV camera in Lake Villa at Swing State, live in her show Letting it All Out

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listen:

(4:43, of just the poem) 03/05/11 in Lake Villa at Swing State, live in her “Visual Nonsense” show Letting it All Out

See YouTube video
of Kuypers from the TV monitor in the “Letting it All Out” show, live in Lake Villa 03/05/11 at Swing State

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listen:

(34:48) to the Letting it All Out show, live in Lake Villa’s Swing State 03/05/11 with this piece

Listen live

(4:04)
Or See YouTube video
Live at My Soul in the Trunk of my Car at Trunk Fest (part 2), in an outdoor Evanston IL feature 05/28/11

See YouTube video of the Janet Kuypers poetry feature “My Soul in the Trunk of my Car (part 2)” at Trunk Fest, live 5/28/11, where she performed her poems “the Burning”, “Death Takes Many Forms”, “Keep Them Apart”, “one by one, the beech trees fell”, her short prose “Driving By His House”, and her poems “Keep Driving”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, and “I’m Not Sick, But I’m Not Well” (this was posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow.

Download the chapbook with this writing in My Soul in the Trunk of my Car (part 2)

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read 08/02/11, live at the Café in Chicago

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of her reading her death-themed poems 08/02/11 “You’ve Left Me on Siesta Beach” and “Death Takes Many Forms” at the Café in Chicago

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of the intro to the 08/02/11 open mic at the Café in Chicago, and her poems “You’ve Left Me on Siesta Beach” and “Death Takes Many Forms”

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of Kuypers performing this poem with the HA!man of South Africa 10/16/11 live in Chicago

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of Kuypers reading this poem at the open mike 01/18/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago

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of Kuypers reading poetry (including this poem) at the open mike 01/18/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago

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of Kuypers reading this poem at the open mike 4/25/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago (w/ music from Francois Le Roux)

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of Kuypers’ open mike 4/25/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago, plus her poetry (w/ music from the HA!man of South Africa, and live piano from Gary)

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of this poem performed live at the “Ruffled Feathers” open mike at Rewster’s Café in Chicago 5/14/12

See YouTube video
of all of Kuypers’ performances (which includes this poem) at Chicago’s Ruffled Feathers open mike 5/14/12

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of this poem performed live at the “Green Mill” (home of the Chicago Uptown Poetry Slam) 5/20/12

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of this Kuypers reading the poem (from memory) live 1/26/13 on Chicago’s WZRD 88.3 FM radio (Canon)

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of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many forms. live in Chicago 8/28/13 (C) at her interview & reading

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of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms from memory live in Chicago 10/31/13 at Poe-Pourri in Chicago

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of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms from memory live in Chicago 10/31/13 at Poe-Pourri in Chicago (watercolor)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms in Vicci’s Chicago studio 7/20/14, with video behind her of her drawing this poem (C, take 1; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms in Vicci’s Chicago studio 7/20/14, with video behind her of her drawing this poem (C, take 2posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms in Vicci’s Chicago studio 7/20/14, with video behind her of her drawing this poem (S, take 1; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms in Vicci’s Chicago studio 7/20/14, with video behind her of her drawing this poem (S, take 2; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading 4 poems 8/31/15 at the Chicago open mic Weeds (Canon fs200), with an edited version of her poem Communication, plus her poems Death Takes Many Forms, True Happiness in the New Millennium, and Other Souls.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading 4 poems 8/31/15 at the Chicago open mic Weeds (Canon Power Shot), with an edited version of her poem Communication, plus her poems Death Takes Many Forms, True Happiness in the New Millennium, and Other Souls.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 9/2/15 show “Like a Lamb to the Slaughter” in her feature at Poetry At The Gallery Cabaret in Chicago, with her poems Entering the Lake of Fire, unless it happens to you, Open Book, electromagnetism, Everything was Alive and Dying (edited), Death Takes Many Forms, and Under the Sea (this video was filmed from a Canon fs200 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 9/2/15 show “Like a Lamb to the Slaughter” in her feature at Poetry At The Gallery Cabaret in Chicago, with her poems Entering the Lake of Fire, unless it happens to you, Open Book, electromagnetism, an edited version of her poem Everything was Alive and Dying, Death Takes Many Forms, and Under the Sea (filmed from a Canon PowerShot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

Download poems in the free chapbook Like a Lamb to the Slaughter
of the NEW poems read 9/2/15 at the Café Gallery show in Chicago

See YouTube video (Nikon SuperPix S7000) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms 12/20/15 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry

See YouTube video 12/20/15 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Death Takes Many Forms and singing the Stevie Ray Vaughan song Life by the Drop (with John on guitar) at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (Nikon SuperPix S7000).

See YouTube video 7/10/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her 2 poems Climbing Trees and Death Takes Many Forms at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (from a Sony camera).

See YouTube video 7/10/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her 2 poems Climbing Trees and Death Takes Many Forms at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (tCanon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” 11/6/16 at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library (from a Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video 4/6/17 of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” within 3 minutes during the Austin Adult Slam at Kick Butt Coffee (from a Canon Power Shot SX7000, cropped, given a hard light).

See YouTube video 4/6/17 of Janet Kuypers’ poem “Death Takes Many Forms” within 3 minutes during the Adult Slam in the Austin International Poetry Society at Kick Butt Coffee (Canon Power Shot SX7000).

See YouTube video 9/21/17 of Janet Kuypers in her show “Seasons Change”, with her poems “True Happiness in the New Millennium (2017 Dripping Springs edit)”, “Knew I Had to be Ready”, “Original Snowbirds” (in her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems”), “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs / Bahá’í Faith Center edit)”, “Marry you in Autumn”, “Sepia Leaves”, “Quell the Vibrancy”, “Seasons 1998”, and “Death Takes Many Forms” (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

See YouTube video 9/21/17 of Janet Kuypers in her show “Seasons Change”, with her poems “True Happiness in the New Millennium (2017 Dripping Springs edit)”, “Knew I Had to be Ready”, “Original Snowbirds” (in her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems”), “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs / Bahá’í Faith Center edit)”, “Marry you in Autumn”, “Sepia Leaves”, “Quell the Vibrancy”, “Seasons 1998”, and “Death Takes Many Forms” (video filmed from a Lumix camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

Download all of these songs & poems in the free PDF file chapbook

“Seasons Change” with “True Happiness in the New Millennium (2017 Dripping Springs edit)”, “Knew I Had to be Ready”, “Original Snowbirds”, “Autumn (2017 Dripping Springs / Bahá’í Faith Center edit)”, “Marry you in Autumn”, “Sepia Leaves”, “Quell the Vibrancy”, “Seasons 1998”, and “Death Takes Many Forms”.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” after her 12/2/17 show “Who What Where When Why” @ “Expressions” in Austin (video from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” after her 12/2/17 show “Who What Where When Why” @ “Expressions” at the Bahá’í Faith Center in Austin (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers saying her new twitter-length poem “Quenching Chemically”, then reading her poems “David” and “Thank You, Women Who Work (1)” from her book “Chapter 38 v2”, then her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” from her book “Chapter 38 v1” live 5/27/18 at Buzz Mill’s “Fort to Famous” open mic (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers saying her new twitter-length poem “Quenching Chemically”, then reading her poems “David” and “Thank You, Women Who Work (1)” from her book “Chapter 38 v2”, then her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” from her book “Chapter 38 v1” live 5/27/18 at Buzz Mill’s “Fort to Famous” open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” from her interview/journal/poetry book “In Depth”, then her poem “Jumping from the Skyline to the Clouds” from the v5 cc&d boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” at “Poetry Aloud” 8/11/18 (Panasonic Lumix 2500).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers listening to the U.K.’s 5 Towns Radio 2/2/20, where the host of the show highlighted her and shared her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” to music from the DMJ Art Connection (also off her CD “Manic Depressive of Something”), with commentary on the poem (Samsung S9 camera with a Sepia Tone filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See Facebook video of Janet Kuypers listening to the U.K.’s 5 Towns Radio 2/2/20, where the host of the show highlighted her and shared her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” to music from the DMJ Art Connection (also off her CD “Manic Depressive of Something”), with poem commentary (from a Samsung S9 camera).

See YouTube video from 4/26/20 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “And I’m Wondering”, “Death takes many forms”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, and “Us, Actually Touching” from the U.K. 5 Towns Radio reading at the end of the Down in the Dirt magazine February-Aril 2020 issue collection book “Founda tions” for “The 2020 #poetrybomb” (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).

See Facebook streaming video live from 4/26/20 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “And I’m Wondering”, “Death takes many forms”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, and “Us, Actually Touching” from the U.K. 5 Towns Radio reading at the end of the Down in the Dirt magazine February-Aril 2020 issue collection book “Founda tions” for “The 2020 #poetrybomb” (Samsung S9 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” at the end of her last Chicago poetry feature

“Like a Lamb to the Slaughter”, as poem #8 for the “8 poems, 8 days, 8 invites” challenge for The Russian Almanac. #PeetMeNotLeave (This video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot camera & posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Xenon & PTSD, to Fight that Spiral”, “Earth was Alive and Dying”, “Xenogeny”, “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “Quiet as a Painting”, “Death takes many forms.”, “Zeal was Unbridled”, and “And I’m Wondering” from the 2020 Scars Publi cations poetry and art collection book anthology “inside the box” 12/2/20, during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Xenon & PTSD, to Fight that Spiral”, “Earth was Alive and Dying”, “Xenogeny”, “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed”, “Fantastic Car Crash”, “Quiet as a Painting”, “Death takes many forms.”, “Zeal was Unbridled”, and “And I’m Wondering” from the 2020 Scars Publi cations poetry and art collection book anthology “inside the box” 12/2/20, during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” open mic (this video was filmed and streamed with a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers

See this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" perfect-bound Janet Kuypers poetry paperback book “Eternal Never Ending Now” outside the Bluebonnet beer co. during a Round Rock Homebrewers Guild meeting, for “The Café Gallery 4/28/21 Book Reading” in The Café Gallery Book Reading series 2020+ (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersthecafegallery

See this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Death Takes Many Forms” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers poetry book “Eternal Never Ending Now” outside the Bluebonnet beer co. during a Round Rock Homebrewers Guild meeting, for “The Café Gallery 4/28/21 Book Reading” in The Café Gallery Book Reading series 2020+ (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersthecafegallery

Death takes many forms.

Janet Kuypers
03/04 - 03/11 1998

It is winter now.
The trees have lost their leaves;
the city is covered in a thin layer of soot and snow.
The grass is dead.
In the sunless sky black birds circle overhead
searching for prey.
An eerie cold settles over everything.
Nothing is growing anymore.

Death takes many forms.
For you, death first came when you were five years old
and your mother had to give you three shots of insulin a day
until you could take a needle to yourself.
Did it hurt to push that needle into your arm, the first time?
Or did it hurt you more to know you had no choice?

Death takes many forms.
Death can be someone telling you without trying
that they are losing their sight.
Behind coke-bottle glasses you would see me and say,
“That’s a nice black suit you’re wearing.”
And I would tell you, “It’s green.”
And you wouldn’t believe me.
You wouldn’t hear the howling wind of the changing seasons.

Death takes many forms.
I know what follows the autumn wind.
It is winter now.
Do you remember when it happened?
The changes are subtle, the temperature drops,
first only slightly. It’s almost imperceptible.
Only when the first snow falls do you realize
where the seasons have gone.

Death takes many forms.
Death can be a sweat-soaked shirt, the shakes, dizziness
when you needed food.
You would look as pale as a ghost
as I would hold your cold wet arm and steady you.
Quick, some sugar will make everything better.
Isn’t everything better yet?

Death takes many forms.
The signs of death can come
when you lose your circulation.
“My feet are numb, Janet,” you’d say.
“I can’t feel my feet anymore.”
And I would rub your feet for you,
and you would say it makes a difference,
you feel better.

If only I could do this forever.

Death takes many forms.
I said good bye to you to travel my own road
but I didn’t think it was the last good bye.
How was I to know?

When I left, I knew you didn’t want me to go.
And now it’s my turn.

Why are we always saying good bye to each other?

Are you trying to teach me a lesson?
Because if you are, well,
I’ve learned it. Trust me, I have.
You can come back now.

Death takes many forms.
And now, now it seems
you’ve taken me down with you
you’ve taken me into that casket with you
and I’m running my hand along your jacket lapel
and I can feel the coldness of winter all around me
and I can hear them shoveling the dirt over my head
and I want to get out
and I want to take you with me.

Death takes many forms.
Death can be that hole you left,
you know, right over here, just a little to the left.
I keep wondering when the pain will go away.
When will everything be better.

You once showed me that winter could be beautiful.
Instead of the dark and dirty snow lacing the city streets
you showed me a quieting snowfall,
over a lake at your parent’s back yard
glistening in an untouched whiteness.
I told you I hated winters
and you told me, “This you don’t hate.”

Well, I’m still learning.

It is winter now.
And death takes many forms.
The seasons change for you and I.
It is snowing. And something is ending.
It is snowing. Somewhere
it is snowing.