poem “knowing and lurking for eons”, a poem about how the trauma of a rape or a sexual assault of a woman will haunt them for years, for all of their lives, and it will appear in any circumstance to still fill them with fear, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her 3 poems knowing and lurking for eons, Conversations: a Day of Grieving 1/22/94 eight and Writing Your Name 5/1/16 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (video filmed from the Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her 3 poems knowing and lurking for eons, Conversations: a Day of Grieving 1/22/94 eight and Writing Your Name 5/1/16 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (video filmed from the Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video 11/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “to Lisa” & “knowing and lurking for eons” at Georgetown Public Library’s “Poetry Aloud” (video filmed with a Sony camera).

See YouTube video 11/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “to Lisa” & “knowing and lurking for eons” at Georgetown Public Library’s “Poetry Aloud” (video from a Canon Power Shot camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers (S) reading her poems “knowing and lurking for eons”, “QLG 647” and “ex boyfriends became goldfish” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” 8/6/17 at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers (L) reading her poems “knowing and lurking for eons”, “QLG 647” and “ex boyfriends became goldfish” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” 8/6/17 at “Recycled Reads” open mic, at a book store affiliated with the Austin Public Library.

knowing and lurking for eons
Janet Kuypers
2/23/16
It follows you.
It lurks.
You think you’re free of the fear.
You think you’re in the clear.
You’ll be walking down a busy street —
you should know it approaches any time.
It will happen, in the morning commute.
It will happen, in a flash.
It walks right up to you.
It pull a gun to you —
holds it between their jacket & body
so drivers-by can’t see.
It stops you in your tracks.
It completely catches you off guard.
You have no wallet.
You try to compose yourself.
You ask not “What do you want?”, but “Why?”
You wait what seems like eons.
It finally speaks, gun poised.
“It had to happen this way.
You have to die.”
Your eyes turn to saucers.
You ask, “Why must I die?”
You plead, “Who wants me dead?”
It answers with a name
you haven’t heard since
you were attacked by him, years ago.
You finally speak. “Wait,
he, who attacked me,
he, a man who raped me,
he’s the one who wants me dead?
You are killing me to appease a rapist?”
It stops the gunman.
It gives you time to speak again.
“You come to me on the street,
you think that no one will see, and
you shoot me in the name of a rapist?”
It doesn’t answer, just looks confused.
You see the traffic five feet from you.
You look at each other, both lost.
“It doesn’t matter what he paid you,”
you say. “There are trees the other way.
You should just go.”
You wait for any response, then
you close your eyes.
You open your eyes.
It is gone, the visual nightmare.
It was never there, in reality.
It was only in your head.
You can’t escape it no matter how hard
you try.
Your pace slows, because
you know
you can never break free.

my hand to an anim of jkchair