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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 2/1/17 25 minute poetry reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with her poems “old school and high-tech monuments”, “extinct on planet earth”, “Other Souls”, “Open Book”, “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “Years, Centuries, Eons”, “Zenith of the Night Sky”, and “just one book” (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 2/1/17 25 minute poetry reading at Austin’s Half Price Books, with her poems “old school and high-tech monuments”, “extinct on planet earth”, “Other Souls”, “Open Book”, “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “Years, Centuries, Eons”, “Zenith of the Night Sky”, and “just one book” (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 2/4/17 show “Exalted Love” at “Greatest Love” in Austin reading her poems “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “Years, Centuries, Eons”, “Zenith of the Night Sky”, and “just one book” with music (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 2/4/17 show “Exalted Love” at “Greatest Love” in Austin reading her poems “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “Years, Centuries, Eons”, “Zenith of the Night Sky”, and “just one book” with music (this video was filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow

View or download the free PDF chapbook Exalted Love with her 2017 poems “Mapping the Way to True Love”, “Years, Centuries, Eons”, “Zenith of the Night Sky”, and “just one book” performed in her 2/4/17 show.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her haiku “eminence” that led into her two poems “Zenith of the Night Sky” and “Unique Noise” 2/11/17 at the “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her haiku “eminence” that led into her two poems “Zenith of the Night Sky” and “Unique Noise” 2/11/17 at the “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (this video was filmed from a Sony camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Falling From the Sky” and “Keeping a Record of Going Too Far” from her book “Revealed”, plus her poem “Zenith of the Night Sky” @ Austin’s Recycled Reads 3/18/17 (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX700 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Falling From the Sky” and “Keeping a Record of Going Too Far” from her book “Revealed”, plus her poem “Zenith of the Night Sky” @ Austin’s Recycled Reads 3/18/17 (filmed from a Canon Power Shot SX60 camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Ultimate Connectivity: aches and pains”, “Ultimate Connectivity: how coffee can be relaxing”, “Ultimate Connectivity: swimming with the fishes”, “Ultimate Connectivity: forgetting fear and feeling free” and “Zenith of the Night Sky” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” 8/23/17 at Kenosha (WI) Beach (video filmed from a Sony camera, with intro in a Hue Cycling filter and reading in a Posterize filter).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Ultimate Connectivity: aches and pains”, “Ultimate Connectivity: how coffee can be relaxing”, “Ultimate Connectivity: swimming with the fishes”, “Ultimate Connectivity: forgetting fear and feeling free” and “Zenith of the Night Sky” from her book “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” 8/23/17 at Kenosha (WI) Beach (from a Sony camera).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers at her 4/4/18 “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” Austin feature reading, reading from the cc&d September-December 2017 issue collection book “Language of Untamed Spirit” her poem “Zenith of the Night Sky”, her haiku “eminence”, her short prose “Driving by His House”, and her poem “erasure poem: a Poetic History” at the only “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” event, which she hosted during National Poetry Month (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers at her 4/4/18 “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” Austin feature reading, reading from the cc&d September-December 2017 issue collection book “Language of Untamed Spirit” her poem “Zenith of the Night Sky”, her haiku “eminence”, her short prose “Driving by His House”, and her poem “erasure poem: a Poetic History” at the only “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” event, which she hosted during National Poetry Month (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera and given an Edge Detection filter).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers at her 4/4/18 “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” Austin feature reading, reading from the cc&d September-December 2017 issue collection book “Language of Untamed Spirit” her poem “Zenith of the Night Sky”, her haiku “eminence”, her short prose “Driving by His House”, and her poem “erasure poem: a Poetic History” at the only “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” event, which she hosted during National Poetry Month (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera and given a Posterize filter).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers at her 4/4/18 “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” Austin feature reading, reading from the cc&d September-December 2017 issue collection book “Language of Untamed Spirit” her poem “Zenith of the Night Sky”, her haiku “eminence”, her short prose “Driving by His House”, and her poem “erasure poem: a Poetic History” at the only “Community Poetry @ Half Price Books” event, which she hosted during National Poetry Month (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera and given a Threshold filter).

Zenith of the Night Sky Janet Kuypers 1/27/17 (elaboration from “Changing Gears” 1/28/98 journal) Once we were sitting outside looking at the night sky. There were no towns around us for at least forty miles, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. It was absolutely amazing. We could see the Milky Way very clearly, and we could easily see so many constellations. I have never seen that many stars in my life. After staring at the zenith of the night sky for a while, someone finally spoke. “Looking up at these stars, doesn’t it make you feel so insignificant?” My eyes must have been saucers, looking up at the night sky with a grin I couldn’t remove from my face. “Not at all. I could never think that.” “How could you not?” he asked. And I told him that I can’t look at my life as insignificant. If I did, I wouldn’t want to excel in life and I’d have no reason to continue. Because the line “Doesn’t it make you feel so insignificant?” sounds like it should be followed with “Doesn’t it make you feel so worthless?” And I cannot function that way... The night sky is so inherently beautiful; the night sky is so aesthetically pleasing. I look at these stars, and I fall in love. I look at these stars and think that this is science, we could learn from this. I love to see the constancy of the stars in the night sky — these were the same stars I saw when I was a child in my lifelong love of astronomy. I love the understanding we gain about our world by studying other planets and stars and galaxies. And I love the fact that I am on one of those planets, and that I have this ability, this unique opportunity, to be a part of this scientific love affair. But then it occurred to me, traveling around the earth to see the sights is one thing, But what about — up there? Now I know I can’t afford a flight to outer space, but why not take a trek toward the Arctic Circle to see the Aurora Borealis? So we made out plans, stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Fairbanks Alaska with window sills eighteen inches deep because of the needed insulation, even sang a few sets at Ivory Jack’s, because the best time of night to see the Aurora Borealis was about one thirty in the morning, long after our concert ended. Yes, it was bitter cold, and I was bundled up, but I really didn’t care... I’d take pictures anyway, even though no photo could emulate the dancing solar wind in our magnetosphere colliding into our atmosphere. But with that collision, what a light show it makes. One man who lived for years in Alaska shared with me that he told his family he would leave here when the he lost his love for the Aurora Borealis. I know exactly what he means.