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


video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her prose poem “Scars” originally appearing in the cc&d issues v002 and the v243 anniversary issue, which granted it’s appearance in the cc&d v249.8 anniversary bookSea Drift” that was then highlighted in her v5 cc&d poetry anthology “On the Edge” that she read it from, then her poem “One Twenty Fifteen Destruction Instructions: Use Drones to Kill” originally from her poetry feature “Destruction Instructions” and read from her poetry performance art collection book “A Year-Long Journey”, and her 2019 poem “Old Stomping Grounds” 2/16/19 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” poetry open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her prose poem “Scars” originally appearing in the cc&d issues v002 and the v243 anniversary issue, which granted it’s appearance in the cc&d v249.8 anniversary bookSea Drift” that was then highlighted in her v5 cc&d poetry anthology “On the Edge” that she read it from, then her poem “One Twenty Fifteen Destruction Instructions: Use Drones to Kill” originally from her poetry feature “Destruction Instructions” and read from her poetry performance art collection book “A Year-Long Journey”, and her 2019 poem “Old Stomping Grounds” 2/16/19 at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” poetry open mic (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video See YouTube video ofJanet Kuypers reading her poem “On The Bridge” originally from her book “Antarctica: Wildlife” but read the edited poem read from her contest-winning poetry in the book “Animal Takes XII 2019”, her poem “Earth was Alive and Dying” read from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” (for Arbor Day), then her poem “Old Stomping Grounds” from her poetry book “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry” during her hosting her the “Poetic License” open mic at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” 8/4/19 (P L 2500).
video See YouTube video ofJanet Kuypers reading her poem “On The Bridge” originally from her book “Antarctica: Wildlife” but read the edited poem read from her contest-winning poetry in the book “Animal Takes XII 2019”, her poem “Earth was Alive and Dying” read from her poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” (for Arbor Day), then her poem “Old Stomping Grounds” from her poetry book “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry” during her hosting her the “Poetic License” open mic at Austin’s “Recycled Reads” 8/4/19 (P L T56).
video See YouTube video 8/13/19 of Janet Kuypers during her “Poetry at the Gallery Cabaret 8/13/19”, where she read her poem “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed” which appears in both of her 2019 books, then her “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” poems “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, “Vortexes Indenting our World”, and “March Forth”. Then she read her new poem “Journeys on a Train” poem about the Chicago L train, and then her “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry” book poems “haiku (poet)”, “Popular and Useless”, “Quickly Judged”, “Metamorphosis”, “Old Stomping Grounds”, and “Eternal Never Ending Now”, during Poetry at The Gallery Cabaret (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, & Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersfeature #janetkuypers #janetkuypersthecafegallery
video See YouTube video 8/13/19 of Janet Kuypers during her “Poetry at the Gallery Cabaret 8/13/19”, where she read her poem “Our Color, Our Gender, Our Creed” which appears in both of her 2019 books, then her “Every Event of the Year (Volume one: January-June)” poems “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, “Vortexes Indenting our World”, and “March Forth”. Then she read her new poem “Journeys on a Train” poem about the Chicago L train, and then her “(pheromones) haiku, Instagram, Twitter, and poetry” book poems “haiku (poet)”, “Popular and Useless”, “Quickly Judged”, “Metamorphosis”, “Old Stomping Grounds”, and “Eternal Never Ending Now”, during Poetry at The Gallery Cabaret (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuypersfeature #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersthecafegallery
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Old Stomping Grounds” from the Down in the Dirt 1/21 v179 book “a Stretch of Highway”, “Killing, Loving, and the Power of Women” from the cc&d 1/21 v305 book “You Won’t See Me”, and her fall 2021 poem “dimensional shift” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 1/3/21” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoeticlicense
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Old Stomping Grounds” from the Down in the Dirt 1/21 v179 book “a Stretch of Highway”, “Killing, Loving, and the Power of Women” from the cc&d 1/21 v305 book “You Won’t See Me”, and her fall 2021 poem “dimensional shift” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 1/3/21” she hosted through a Zoom meeting and a Facebook event page (this video was filmed & streamed from a Samsung S9 camera).   #janetkuypers   #janetkuyperspoeticlicense
video See a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “nonetheless”, “Eighteen and Eight, Plus Eighteen: Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Seen”, “Plot and Wait”, “Old Stomping Grounds”, and “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from the “a Stretch of Highway” section of the Scars Publications 1-4 2021 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “Excerpts from the Plague Years” (released 4/15/21), read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).  #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “nonetheless”, “Eighteen and Eight, Plus Eighteen: Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Seen”, “Plot and Wait”, “Old Stomping Grounds”, and “Waiting to Take the Plunge” from the “a Stretch of Highway” section of the Scars Publications 1-4 2021 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “Excerpts from the Plague Years” (released 4/15/21), read 4/7/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” (this video was filmed and streamed from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading

Old Stomping Grounds

Janet Kuypers
1/22/19

Stories have been told
that when the Chicago mafia
would dispose of bodies
a century ago, they would
bury them in what is now
forest preserves in Chicago’s
south west suburbs.

A few decades after
the Chicago mob
had made its mark,
scientists developed
the first self-sustaining
nuclear reactor at the
University of Chicago,
under the west-viewing stands
of their football stadium.
Operational for only one year,
this “Chicago Pile One”
was disassembled
and buried at one of
the forest preserves in
a south west suburb
of Chicago.

I doubt my dad
was feeling scientific,
or even thinking about
his father in-law
(who did odd jobs for
the mob back in the day),
but my dad decided
to move out of Chicago
and into a south west
suburb; he could get
a ton of land for cheap,
and his concrete company
could help him build a
nice house for the family.

It was a nice place
to raise kids,
but far enough away
from Chicago
to still need to use
50-pound salt blocks
for well water.
It was a simpler life
riding our bikes
around those nearby
forest preserves,
and... I never got
radiation burns there,
and I didn’t discover
any buried bodies.

So, I don’t know
if it was the mafia
or the scientists
who gentrified
this area south
and west of Chicago,
and I can’t say
it was my father’s doing,
but all I know
is that after he lived
there for a while,
his whole town
became so upscale.
So this is when
I moved back
into Chicago,
but when I did,
very straight me
first moved into
a very gay
neighborhood.
Unlucky for me,
I couldn’t stay,
so I moved
not to where
my friends lived, but
very white me
moved to a
very Hispanic
neighborhood,
just north of where
gangs would pick
you out because
of the color of
your skin.

And yeah,
I lived there for years,
the rent was cheap,
I had more space,
though I got tired
of people breaking
into my car, it was
almost like clockwork.
Still, I’d walk alone at night,
I’d watch my surroundings,
and I always stayed safe.
I was fine, really, because
there was no place
I’d rather be.

#

I’ve been moved away
from Chicago for years now,
but recently I went back
and visited my
old stomping grounds.
I was stunned when I saw
the streets in my old
neighborhood now lined
with martini bars,
kitschy shoppes
from local artists,
and vegetarian restaurants.
And although I
don’t believe it,
that’s when I was told
that I must come
from a long line
of gentrifiers.

Now, by the strict
definition, that’s
not true. A gentrifier
buys old houses
and renovates them
so they’re more upscale.
I don’t do that.
I just move somewhere
and change the
neighborhood instead.




Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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