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video See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Too Far” from her “a Woman on the Beach” show, then her micro-prose “Phone Calls from Brian Tolle” from her “Getting Wired” show, both performed from her poetry performance art book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, and then her poem “Each Trigger Pull” 3/3/19 @ “Recycled Reads(Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Too Far” from her “a Woman on the Beach” show, then her micro-prose “Phone Calls from Brian Tolle” from her “Getting Wired” show, both performed from her poetry performance art book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, and then her poem “Each Trigger Pull” 3/3/19 @ “Recycled Reads(Panasonic Lumix T56; Posterize).
video See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Too Far” from her “a Woman on the Beach” show, then her micro-prose “Phone Calls from Brian Tolle” from her “Getting Wired” show, both performed from her poetry performance art book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, and then her poem “Each Trigger Pull” 3/3/19 @ “Recycled Reads(Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Chicago poet Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Too Far” from her “a Woman on the Beach” show, then her micro-prose “Phone Calls from Brian Tolle” from her “Getting Wired” show, both performed from her poetry performance art book “Chapter 48 (v 1)”, and then her poem “Each Trigger Pull” 3/3/19 @ “Recycled Reads(Panasonic Lumix 2500; Sepia Tone).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her “Journeys” poetry book feature for “Thirsty Thursday 8/15/19 in Dripping Springs”, TX, with her poem “Journeys on a Train” as the intro poem to her feature, then her poems “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed”, “Valentine’s Day, Every Day”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Quilled for Poets”, and “Karma and Lollipops” from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” in part one of her feature. Then she read her poems “haiku (poet)”, “unbounded”, “oceans”, “eyes”, “Ends of the Earth”, “Xystus to Foundation”, and “Eternal Never Ending Now” from her poetry book “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry”, then she closes her feature with her poem “Verdant Green” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her “Journeys” poetry book feature for “Thirsty Thursday 8/15/19 in Dripping Springs”, TX, with her poem “Journeys on a Train” as the intro poem to her feature, then her poems “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed”, “Valentine’s Day, Every Day”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Quilled for Poets”, and “Karma and Lollipops” from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” in part one of her feature. Then she read her poems “haiku (poet)”, “unbounded”, “oceans”, “eyes”, “Ends of the Earth”, “Xystus to Foundation”, and “Eternal Never Ending Now” from her poetry book “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry”, then she closes her feature with her poem “Verdant Green” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in part one her “Journeys” poetry book feature for “Thirsty Thursday 8/15/19 in Dripping Springs”, TX, with her poem “Journeys on a Train” as the intro poem to her feature, then her poems “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed”, “Valentine’s Day, Every Day”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Quilled for Poets”, and “Karma and Lollipops” from her book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in part one her “Journeys” poetry book feature for “Thirsty Thursday 8/15/19 in Dripping Springs”, TX, with her poem “Journeys on a Train” as the intro poem to her feature, then her poems “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed”, “Valentine’s Day, Every Day”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Quilled for Poets”, and “Karma and Lollipops” from her book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video See YouTube video 8/17/19 of Janet Kuypers reading her “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” poems “Valentine’s Day, Every Day”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Quilled for Poets” and “Karma and Lollipops” (that were all read during her “Journeys” feature at Thirsty Thursday 8/15/19 in Dripping Springs)as she was guest-hosting the Austin “Open Mic Showcase” at Recycled Reads (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video See YouTube video 8/17/19 of Janet Kuypers reading her “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” poems “Valentine’s Day, Every Day”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Quilled for Poets” and “Karma and Lollipops” (that were all read during her “Journeys” feature at Thirsty Thursday 8/15/19 in Dripping Springs)as she was guest-hosting the Austin “Open Mic Showcase” at Recycled Reads (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vaccinated from What Happens in Wuhan” as the intro poem to “Poetic License open mic 3/1/20”, hosting “Poetic License” monthly at Austin’s “Recycled Reads”, followed by John reading Janet Kuypers’ poem “Each Trigger Pull” from the the Down in the Dirt 3/20 v169 issue/book “Going Off-Grid” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; also posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Vaccinated from What Happens in Wuhan” as the intro poem to “Poetic License open mic 3/1/20”, hosting “Poetic License” monthly at Austin’s “Recycled Reads”, followed by John reading Janet Kuypers’ poem “Each Trigger Pull” from the the Down in the Dirt 3/20 v169 issue/book “Going Off-Grid” (Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; also posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See YouTube video from 4/26/20 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Quickly, Life Can Turn”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Vanishing Psycho in the Rear Window”, “Value of π”, “Zeal was Unbridled”, and “Xenogeny” from the v169Going Off-Grid” of the Down in the Dirt February-Aril 2020 issue collection book “Foundations” for “The 2020 #poetrybomb” (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See Facebook streaming video live from 4/26/20 of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Quickly, Life Can Turn”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Vanishing Psycho in the Rear Window”, “Value of π”, “Zeal was Unbridled”, and “Xenogeny” from the v169Going Off-Grid” of the the Down in the Dirt magazine February-Aril 2020 issue collection book “Foundations” for “The 2020 #poetrybomb” (Samsung S9).
video See a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Vain”, “Know Completeness”, “Quickly, Life Can Turn”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Vanishing Psycho in the Rear Window”, “Value of π”, “Zeal was Unbridled”, and “Xenogeny” from the v169Going Off-Grid” section of the Down in the Dirt 2-4 2020 collection book “Foundations” for The Café Gallery 9/22/20 Book Reading in The Café Gallery 2020 book reading series (filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Vain”, “Know Completeness”, “Quickly, Life Can Turn”, “Each Trigger Pull”, “Vanishing Psycho in the Rear Window”, “Value of π”, “Zeal was Unbridled”, and “Xenogeny” from the v169Going Off-Grid” section of the Down in the Dirt 2-4 2020 collection book “Foundations” for The Café Gallery 9/22/20 Book Reading in The Café Gallery 2020 book reading series (streamed from a Samsung S9 camera).

Each Trigger Pull

Janet Kuypers
3/2/19 (written on Texas Independence Day)

Once I got to the gun range today,
I saw that the rifle range was closed
and learned that a real estate company
is considering buying the land just past
the range, so they got an injunction —
a court order — to stop the gun range
firing guns toward the extended land.

I’m not sure if they actually found any
expended bullets or casings out there,
and as far as I know no one has bought
that land yet, so now they just sit and wait.

The way the Republic of Texas waited nine years
to be a part of the United States of America,
after claiming their independence on
March 2nd, which happens to also be the
birthday of Sam Houston, who led Texans to
victory over Mexico in the battle of San Jacinto...
which may be a reason these Texans here
seem to have a stronger attachment
to their guns than a lot of other states.
Because they know too well from their
own history how vital it was to embrace
these firearms to preserve their lives.

That may be something other states
in this union have forgotten; we can
turn a blind eye to violence and think
it will never touch us, when it probably
is lurking just around the corner
and no one knows it.

#

As I sit here in one of the bays at this
gun range now, I now wear protective
eye glasses and ear mufflers — ear gear
with enough force to protect my ears
and enough pressure to crush my skull.
Watching the smoke from every shot
rise from the gun in front of me, I can
still hear the 9-mil pistol and rifle shots
fired in our bay, and the AR-15 shots
fired in the bay next door. Each trigger
pull releases a thunderous boom,
and it almost reminds me of fireworks
here on Texas Independence Day.
The noise is something that seems
so strong, but really, like fireworks,
it’s only something that reminds me
of celebration — and celebrating.


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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



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