Burned into these Nightmares
with a Pen
Janet Kuypers
10/20/19, written on the
National Day on Writing
I need to burn these stories onto pages.
I pick and choose what needs to be said,
what needs to be remembered.
When I looked around me, I wrote,
I burned into these nightmares with a pen —
and yes, I have this recorded.
I have all of this recorded.
What did you think I was doing
when I was stuffing hand-written notes into my pockets
or typing long hours into the night?
I was sitting in a computer lab
slamming my hands, my fingers against the keyboard
because there were too many atrocities in the world
too many injustices that I had witnessed —
and I had a lot of work to do.
There had to be a record
for all to remember.
You want to know
what I do the things I do?
I had to record these things,
that is what kept me together.
Once I’ve seen the injustices of the world,
and when no one bothered to notice them,
or change them,
or care about them,
these recordings kept me together.
I need to record these things
to remind myself
of where I came from.
I need to record these things
to remind myself
that there are things to value...
I need to record these things
to remind myself
that there are things worth fighting for —
and I need to record these things
to remind myself
that I
am
alive.
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