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video See YouTube video 2/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her 2 poems w/ John on guitar, eyes and jihadists and astrophysics, and then her poem Vanishing Scars at the Poetry Plus open mic at Cianfrani’s on the Square in Georgetown TX (from a Canon Power Shot camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry
video See YouTube video 2/12/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her 2 poems w/ John on guitar, eyes and jihadists and astrophysics, and then her poem Vanishing Scars at the Poetry Plus open mic at Cianfrani’s on the Square in Georgetown TX (from a Nikon Coolpix S7000 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry
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See YouTube video 10/1/16 of the poem by Janet KuypersVanishing Scars” at the “Expressions 2016: the Metaphor of Costumes” open mic Janet hosted at the Bahá’í Faith Center in Austin TX (video filmed from a Sony camera).
video videonot yet rated
See YouTube video 10/1/16 of the poem by Janet KuypersVanishing Scars” at the “Expressions 2016: the Metaphor of Costumes” open mic Janet hosted at the Bahá’í Faith Center in Austin TX (from a Canon Power Shot camera).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of the intro to the Janet Kuypers 3/1/17 poetry Book Release & Book Reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with the beginning of her poem “Vanishing Scars” (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of the intro to the Janet Kuypers 3/1/17 poetry Book Release & Book Reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with the beginning of her poem “Vanishing Scars” (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera, then given a Cinematic Overlay).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of the intro to the Janet Kuypers 3/1/17 poetry Book Release & Book Reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with the beginning of her poem “Vanishing Scars” (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera, then given an Edge Detection filter).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of the intro to the Janet Kuypers 3/1/17 poetry Book Release & Book Reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with the beginning of her poem “Vanishing Scars” (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera, then given a Posterize filter).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of the intro to the Janet Kuypers 3/1/17 poetry Book Release & Book Reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with the beginning of her poem “Vanishing Scars” (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera, then given a Sepia Tone filter).
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video of the intro to the Janet Kuypers 3/1/17 poetry Book Release & Book Reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with the beginning of her poem “Vanishing Scars” (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera, then given a Threshold filter).
Book Release & Book Reading chapbook Book Release & Book Reading chapbook View or download the free PDF chapbook
Book Release & Book Reading
with “Smelling Sulphur on Nine One One”, “newspaper ink’s the blood of a dying species”, “Quieted Soul”, “Pluto, Plutonium & Death”, “Vanishing Scars”, “Fuming in the Morning”, “X-rays and Broken Hearts”,, “Koi Ponds and Concrete”, “of independence or freedom”, “8 ball answers all”, “violent affair”, “holding my skin together”, “one summer traveled”, “Each Half is the Enemy”, “explaining what condoms are for”, and “Jumping from the Skyline to the Clouds”.
video See YouTube video of Janet KuypersJune 2017 Book Release Reading 6/7/17, where she read Down in the Dirt’s book “Study in Black” poems “One and Six” “feel”, “eventually” and “Translation”, then cc&d’s book “Things Found in Books” poems “Oxygen to Flame the Fire”, “Fuming in the Morning” & “Vanishing Scars” for “Community Poetry” @ Austin’s Half Price Books (video filmed from a Panasonic Lumix camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video See YouTube video of Janet KuypersJune 2017 Book Release Reading 6/7/17, where she read Down in the Dirt’s book “Study in Black” poems “One and Six” “feel”, “eventually” and “Translation”, then cc&d’s book “Things Found in Books” poems “Oxygen to Flame the Fire”, “Fuming in the Morning” & “Vanishing Scars” for “Community Poetry” @ Austin’s Half Price Books (video from a Sony camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video 8/5/17 (L) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vanishing Scars” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” after her poetry show “Finding Peace”.
video videonot yet rated

See YouTube video 8/5/17 (S) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vanishing Scars” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” after her poetry show “Finding Peace”.
video See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Vanishing Scars” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems”, when her poem “Scars 1997” from her poetry performance art book “Chapter 38 v2”, then her new poem “Metamorphosis” live 1/26/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud” open mic (video from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Vanishing Scars” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems”, when her poem “Scars 1997” from her poetry performance art book “Chapter 38 v2”, then her new poem “Metamorphosis” live 1/26/18 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud” open mic (video from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vanishing Scars” for William Stafford and to highlight her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems”, then her poem “Dance Among the Ashes” from her 2019 book “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry”, then her new poem “Española Lore”, live 1/26/20 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vanishing Scars” for William Stafford and to highlight her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems”, then her poem “Dance Among the Ashes” from her 2019 book “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry”, then her new poem “Española Lore”, live 1/26/20 at Georgetown’s “Poetry Aloud” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vanishing Scars” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers book “Eternal Never Ending Now” at Johnny Carino’s for “The Café Gallery 3/10/21 Book Reading in The Café Gallery Book Reading series 2020+ (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera, and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).  #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersthecafegallery
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vanishing Scars” from the cyberwit.net 137-page 5½" x 8½" Janet Kuypers book “Eternal Never Ending Now” at Johnny Carino’s for “The Café Gallery 3/10/21 Book Reading” in The Café Gallery Book Reading series 2020+ (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera).   #janetkuypers   #janetkuyperspoetry   #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersthecafegallery

Vanishing Scars

Janet Kuypers
2/9/16

“They tell you how it was...
and how it happened
again and again. They tell
the slant life takes when it turns
and slashes your face as a friend.”

            — William Stafford, from “Scars”

Any wound is real, he says,
and yes, it’s true, I know it.*
For the faces of promise
are also the places
the scars will be.

Yes, bright-eyed children,
this is the battle
you have to look forward to.
Brace yourself,
if you know how.
It might hurt less then.

For once we are grown
we are all too aware
of past tortures and traumas,
they leave physical and emotional scars
we wear like badges,
while knowing
these scars
scar us.

Hide the marks from your face,
your stomach from when
you were hospitalized
against your will for months.
Hide the bruises around your neck
as you leave the country
to escape the man
who once claimed he loved you.
Force yourself to forget
the disappointing diatribes
your disappointment of a father
gave you, while you struggle
to be stronger than him,
despite him.

If you internalize some scars,
turn them around,
then watch your helplessness
transform to rage,
then to solace and insight
to help others recover
from their own physical
and sexual traumas.

They say that time heals all wounds,
and you wish for the scars to vanish;
your brutish, broodish demeanor
is a blemish
                    you wish would perish —

but wait a minute,
search for that scar
on the cleft of your chin
from when you scratched
when you had the Chickenpox.
You would swear
that scar was there,
but

where did it go.

Then you turn
to the one you love.
They tell you
they’ve never seen the scars.

That you’ve always been
a bright white beam of light,
almost too blinding
for anyone to fully take in,
which is why
you can never
be fully understood...
And this is all they think
when they see you,
and all they can say
is
I love you.

And maybe that
is the treatment
for the traumas...

and the scars
to hard
to handle.

Any wound is real,
for scars too hard to handle.
And any wound is real,
as long as you give it the power
to take over your soul
and fester into a fiendish demon.

So just remember
that despite those vanishing scars
that are now
too taxing to tally,
despite those battle scars...

you are a blinding light
that no one,
thankfully,
will ever
fully
understand.

 

Italicized portion of this poem are quotes
    from the William Stafford poem “Scars”.
* line toward he end of the Ai poem
    “The Good Shepherd: Atlanta, 1981.”


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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




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