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of this poem read live in her Pilsen feature “Games We Play” 3/17/12 at Café Mestizo (music from Francois Le Roux, the HA!man of South Africa)
video Enjoy this feature-length YouTube video of many poems read 3/17/12 at Café Mestizo from the live feature “Games We Play”, including this poem (posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow
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See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her prose “Letter 09/16/06” and her poems “Ever Since You Got Me” and “Love Affair with the Moon 2012” from her book “Chapter 48 (v2)” live 10/20/18 at “Recycled Reads” (Panasonic Lumix T56).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her prose “Letter 09/16/06” and her poems “Ever Since You Got Me” and “Love Affair with the Moon 2012” from her book “Chapter 48 (v2)” live 10/20/18 at “Recycled Reads” (Panasonic Lumix 2500).
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See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Universe... Now In Color”, “Beauty in the Eyes of Einstein” and “Love Affair With The Moon 2012” in her “Revealed” book reading at Austin’s “Open Mic Showcase” 11/17/19 (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video
See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Universe... Now In Color”, “Beauty in the Eyes of Einstein” and “Love Affair With The Moon 2012” in her “Revealed” book reading at Austin’s “Open Mic Showcase” 11/17/19 (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video
See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers live at Austin’s “Open Mic Showcase” 11/17/19 reading poetry in 3 sets from her her “Revealed”. In set 1 she read her poems “Seven and Seven, Plus Eighteen”, “Observations: Nine and Six” and “Eleven and Two, Plus Eight”. In set 2 she read her poems “Scratch the Surface”, “Freedom just Past the Fence” and “Before Taking Over the Controls”. In set 3 she read her poems “Universe... Now In Color”, “Beauty in the Eyes of Einstein” and “Love Affair With The Moon 2012” (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video
See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers live at Austin’s “Open Mic Showcase” 11/17/19 reading poetry in 3 sets from her her “Revealed”. In set 1 she read her poems “Seven and Seven, Plus Eighteen”, “Observations: Nine and Six” and “Eleven and Two, Plus Eight”. In set 2 she read her poems “Scratch the Surface”, “Freedom just Past the Fence” and “Before Taking Over the Controls”. In set 3 she read her poems “Universe... Now In Color”, “Beauty in the Eyes of Einstein” and “Love Affair With The Moon 2012” (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).

Love Affair With The Moon 2012

Janet Kuypers
(based on the 2005 poem Love Affair With The Moon
and originating from the prose How Do I Get to the Moon
in the 20050215 feature How Do I Get There?,
but revised and edited 20120308)

how do we understand this love
for what we see in the night sky

I think everyone loves the moon
and I think everyone was transfixed
to their televisions or radios
when we made that first one small step for man
that one giant leap for mankind

scientists at NASA during the cold war
considered setting off nuclear bombs
on the dark side of the moon
because, you see,
no one sees that side of the moon
and it would be a safe distance from the Earth

but what would that do to our weather, or our orbit?
the earthquake that caused
the devastating tsunami in Asia
slowed the rotation of this planet for a full second —

and they say committing nuclear atrocities on the moon
is a safe distance from the Earth

our calendars have leap years
‘cause we can’t get the time right...
in a few months we even have to add seconds to a day
to adjust our caledar
to the slowing of the Earth’s rotation

astronomers now estimate
that because of gravity’s change
the moon, every year
is almost 4 centimeters farther away from the earth

so if you remember the moon looking so big
when you looked at it in the night sky
when you were little, well,
you may have been right

astronomy is like a forbidden love affair
something whose constancy can give you hope
even when you’re only standing outside
in the night and looking up at its perennial beauty

it is something one person may never actualy touch
but it is something we can always,
like a star-crossed lover,
admire from afar


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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


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