[the Writing of Kuypers]
I don’t know where we were, but the weather was warm,
I was thinking that this was insane,
After everyone else jumped off,
(I knew that; that’s why I came back)
but then I felt the boat turning, and I saw that
and I thought,
and the thing is,
U.S. Government Copyright © 2004
[JanetKuypers.com][Bio][Poems][Prose]
Dreams 12/28/06 (Jump Out of the Ship)
Janet Kuypers, 12/28/06
and we were on a boat. We were going for a ride
on the wide boat for like 15 people,
and you and I were on this boat
with like 12 other people we knew.
I think you and one other man
were the ones who got the boat for us to use,
and I think this other guy was steering the boat.
But he started the boat and we were moving away from the dock,
and we got out a little ways, and the two of you
started saying there was a problem
(actually, I don’t even remember
anyone saying there was a problem)
and everyone had to jump out of the boat.
Now, no one had live vests,
but at the same time,
no one had a problem with jumping out of the boat,
no one questioned why they had to get out of the boat,
and everyone just started jumping over the side into the water.
No one explained why we were supposed to jump,
so I said I wasn’t jumping out of this boat
and I stayed on board.
I moved toward the front of the boat,
there were seats for two on each side of the boat
as I walked toward the front,
and it came to a point at the front of this boat,
so it got to one seat on each side
before it got to the tip of the boat.
And as I moved toward the font of this boat
it got really windy,
so I turned around
and started to head to the back of this boat again.
it was just me and you and the other guy
steering the boat,
and when I got to you, you said
that it was good that I came back there,
because it was windy at the front
that guy was turning the boat around to go back to shore.
I could see that there were a ton of other boats around too,
a few really huge boats too,
and all I could think
was that some of the people who had jumped
could have been hit by any of these other boats.
So I said to you,
I wonder where everyone who jumped overboard are,
and you said,
oh, they’re probably at the hotel now, nice and warm
there’s no way they could get back that quickly,
that they’d be rescued that quickly,
faster than us just turning around the boat
and sailing back ourselves.
I never knew
why everyone was supposed to jump out of the ship
in the first place.
Copyright © 2006 Janet Kuypers.
Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers
on all art and all writings on this site completed
before 6/6/04. All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.
