poem you’ve left me on Siesta Beach, a poem about arguing with someone, them leaving and you thinking they died, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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

See this YouTube video
live at Waiting4the Bus at Café Ballou in Chicago 08/01/11

See this YouTube video
of 3 death-related poems (including this one) live at Waiting4the Bus at Café Ballou in Chicago 08/01/11

See this YouTube video
read 08/02/11, live at the Café in Chicago

See this YouTube video

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

See this YouTube video

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”

Watch the YouTube video

of Kuypers reading this poem at the open mike 4/25/12 at Gallery Cabaret’s the Café Gallery in Chicago (W/ by live piano music from Gary)

Watch the YouTube video
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)

See YouTube video from 4/15/17 of Janet Kuypers reading a portion of her short story “Crazy”, then reading her poem “you’ve left me on Siesta Beach” at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (from a Sony camera).

See YouTube video from 4/15/17 of Janet Kuypers reading a portion of her short story “Crazy”, then reading her poem “you’ve left me on Siesta Beach” at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” (Canon psSX700 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ July 2017 Book Release Reading 7/5/17, where she read her poems “Elephants Carry the World”, “Update 2011 on the Man who Loved Me”, “Under Constant Supervision” and “You’ve Left Me on Siesta Beach” for her “Revealed” book reading @ Austin’s Half Price Books Community Poetry (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ July 2017 Book Release Reading 7/5/17, where she read her poems “Elephants Carry the World”, “Update 2011 on the Man who Loved Me”, “Under Constant Supervision” and “You’ve Left Me on Siesta Beach” for her “Revealed” book reading @ Austin’s Half Price Books Community Poetry (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “You’ve Left Me on Siesta Beach” from her interview/journal/poetry book “In Depth”, then her new poems “Other People’s Worlds” and “Language” live 1/26/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud” open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).

See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “You’ve Left Me on Siesta Beach” from her interview/journal/poetry book “In Depth”, then her new poems “Other People’s Worlds” and “Language” live 1/26/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud” open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).

you’ve left me
on Siesta Beach
Janet Kuypers
07/29/11
got a hotel
overlooking Siesta Beach
to see you
it was all
about sand and sun and fun
when we were together
but after
spending all night on the beach with you
last night
we argued
and I screamed at you to leave me alone
so you stormed away
I couldn’t tell
if you were defiant or dejected
when you left me at four a m
but when I got back
to my hotel overlooking the beach
I couldn’t sleep
I called your cell
at five a m
it jumped to your voice mail
at six I heard sirens
so I looked out my hotel window
overlooking the beach
and saw the lights
and two ambulances, and a crowd
circled at the shoreline
my God, I thought
it was just an argument, we’d be okay
it can’t be you
so I grabbed
my phone and my keys and ran
to the elevator
I stepped inside
and heard two people talking about
the unfolding news
I heard
“they found a man washed up on the beach,
he wasn’t in swim clothes
and he had no life vest,
so they think he committed suicide”
so... I ran
out of the elevator
as soon as those doors would open
sprinted to the beach
at the edge of the crowd
I dialed your number again, and again
no response
I glanced to my right
and saw EMTs and a gurney, with a
zipped body bag
I ran toward that body bag
a policeman stopped me, i begged
I said I may know the victim
so he brought me over to the EMTs
they said the man had no identification
I gulped
and said, I may know him
they looked at each other
and told me to be prepared
when they open the bag
I braced myself
then they slowly unzipped the bag
and I looked at his face
he was bloated
from being in the water so long
he was pale
from no blood curculating
and his eyes were wide open:
I mean, it’s not like the movies
where an actor
can press their fingers over the dead’s eyes
and the eyes then stay closed
they even used to put coins
over the eyes of the dead in the old days
so
his eyes were wide open
I stared back at his vacuous stare
then turned away
“I don’t know this man,”
I told the EMTs, and they asked me
if I was sure
“people look different
when they die out in the water like this,”
they told me
and I said,
“that’s not his eye color,”
and I walked away
now I wonder
what really died that day
since I never heard from you again

my hand to an anim of jkchair