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of this in a live performance in Chicago of the “a Very Goth Beach Party” feature 07/03/11 at “Beach Poets”
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of the eye cam recording of this in the “a Very Goth Beach Party” feature, live 07/03/11 at “Beach Poets”
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video of many poems read 07/03/11
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“a Very Goth Beach Party”
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video of the eye-cam of the entire show at Beach Poets 07/03/11 from the “a Very Goth Beach Party” feature
download chapbook PDF filePDF Download the chapbook with this writing in a Very Goth Beach Chapbook
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See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Gary’s Blind Date”, “Scratch the Surface”, and “Letting Ourselves Go” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, live 6/23/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud(this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Gary’s Blind Date”, “Scratch the Surface”, and “Letting Ourselves Go” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, live 6/23/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud(this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; Posterize).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Gary’s Blind Date”, “Scratch the Surface”, and “Letting Ourselves Go” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, live 6/23/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud(this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Gary’s Blind Date”, “Scratch the Surface”, and “Letting Ourselves Go” from her book “Chapter 48 (v1)”, live 6/23/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud(this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; Threshold).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Upstage Everyone Else”, “Letting Ourselves Go”, and “You Carried It” from the cc&d v5 boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” live 10/7/18 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Upstage Everyone Else”, “Letting Ourselves Go”, and “You Carried It” from the cc&d v5 boss lady poetry collection book “On the Edge” live 10/7/18 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

Letting Ourselves Go

Janet Kuypers
02/10/11

I hear that in France
they have a national music day,
when everybody sings
and it doesn’t really matter
if it’s not all in tune.

not that I’m all for France or anything
but we could learn from that,
that would be kind of good here
where everyone could just let go.
I mean, just allow ourselves to sing.
On key or not. Hum a tune.
Music is supposed to make us happy,
and we’re filled with so much
that takes away our happiness.

If people sing,
I’m probably the first
that would be the stickler
if someone was off key.

The stickler:
someone who who insists
on something unyieldingly.

We’ve all been taught these rules,
we’re taught when we’re little
that if we’re not good at something
we just can’t do it.
We just close ourselves off
to letting ourselves go.

I mean, think of it:
have a national music day,
where everybody sings
and it doesn’t really matter
if it’s not all in tune.

It’s just letting ourselves go,
hearing the rhythm,
and enjoying the music.


Copyright © 2011 Janet Kuypers.

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





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