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video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Journals Extinguished” (written on and for the day in 1824 of the burning of Lord Byron’s journals), “Volumes in Flames while the Spirit Lives” (written on the anniversary of the day Nazis in Germany staged massive public book burnings of “un-German” books), and “Visiting and Seeing the Signs” 5/18/19 while she hosted “Poetry Aloud(Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Journals Extinguished” (written on and for the day in 1824 of the burning of Lord Byron’s journals), “Volumes in Flames while the Spirit Lives” (written on the anniversary of the day Nazis in Germany staged massive public book burnings of “un-German” books), and “Visiting and Seeing the Signs” 5/18/19 while she hosted “Poetry Aloud(Panasonic Lumix T56 camera).
video Listen mp3 to the 33:37 WZRD 88.3fm Radio show, or see a YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 30+ minute podcast recording for WZRD 88.3 Chicago FM Radio, reading her poems from the Janet Kuypers poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume Two: July-December)” — reflecting summer poetry within the book, including her poems “Just One Book”, “Opportunity from Freedom”, “Use Your Mind”, “Just Who May Try to Stop Us”, “Just to Craft”, “Value of What Money Does”, “Eleven and Two, plus Eight”, “Ominous Day”, “Keep Looking Happy”, “Effigy”, “Everyone is to Blame”, “Beauty in the Eyes of Einstein”, “No One Will Forget”, “One With Wildlife”, “Visiting and Seeing the Signs”, and “The State of the Nation (2016 edit)”, recorded 8/3/20 for future WZRD Radio airplay (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr).
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers in her 30+ minute podcast recording for WZRD 88.3 Chicago FM Radio, reading her poems from the Janet Kuypers poetry book “Every Event of the Year (Volume Two: July-December)” — reflecting summer poetry within the book, including her poems “Just One Book”, “Opportunity from Freedom”, “Use Your Mind”, “Just Who May Try to Stop Us”, “Just to Craft”, “Value of What Money Does”, “Eleven and Two, plus Eight”, “Ominous Day”, “Keep Looking Happy”, “Effigy”, “Everyone is to Blame”, “Beauty in the Eyes of Einstein”, “No One Will Forget”, “One With Wildlife”, “Visiting and Seeing the Signs”, and “The State of the Nation (2016 edit)”, recorded 8/3/20 for future WZRD Radio airplay (filmed from a Samsung S9 camera).
video See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Visiting and Seeing the Signs”, “Only Remember Fragments (dreams 3/21/19)”, and “Just Let Me Have My Space” from the Down in the Dirt 2/21 v180 book “Eclipsed” at the beginning of the “Poetic License virtual open mic 2/7/21” 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 “Visiting and Seeing the Signs”, “Only Remember Fragments (dreams 3/21/19)”, and “Just Let Me Have My Space” from the Down in the Dirt 2/21 v180 book “Eclipsed” at the beginning of the “Poetic License virtual open mic 2/7/21” 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 this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Just Let Me Have My Space”, “Jet Stream of Water: dreams 3/9/19”, “Only Remember Fragments (dreams 3/21/19)”, “Just the Right Words”, “Visiting and Seeing the Signs”, “Xylograph: My Story Must be Free”, and “United We Wonder” from the “Eclipsed” section of the Scars Publications 1-4 2021 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “Excerpts from the Plague Years”, read 5/5/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” feature reading (from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).  #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersinstagram
video See this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Just Let Me Have My Space”, “Jet Stream of Water: dreams 3/9/19”, “Only Remember Fragments (dreams 3/21/19)”, “Just the Right Words”, “Visiting and Seeing the Signs”, “Xylograph: My Story Must be Free”, and “United We Wonder” from the “Eclipsed” section of the Scars Publications 1-4 2021 Down in the Dirt issue collection book “Excerpts from the Plague Years”, read 5/5/21 during the usual time for Austin’s “Community Poetry” feature reading (from a Panasonic Lumix T56 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr).  #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading #janetkuypersinstagram

Visiting and Seeing
                 the Signs

Janet Kuypers
2/4/19

My grandmother was moving away.
I was out of town, so I could only call —

and when I got on the phone,
I told her I would be visiting

where she was moving to,
I could see her in maybe six months.

We didn’t talk much as I got older,
so right about when we were going

to get off the phone, she said
“I love you.” And I said, “I love you too.”

I never get this way, but
after I hung up that phone, I cried.

After that, for three days when I
would walk down the street or look

out every window, I would see
clouds of black birds and feathers

in my darkened skies. Every time
I walked outside, a biblical apocalypse

swarmed over me, and for the life
of me I didn’t know why. After 3 days

I went back to visit my siblings
living only a 2-hour drive away, before

I took a flight to see my parents.
And when I walked through that door

to see my sister, my father
was there. I walked down the marble

tiled floor to meet him and hug,
and when we embraced, I said,

“Grandma’s dead.” Because
the heavens were giving me the signs

for days, while she was fighting
with her doctors to check her again,

and because they wouldn’t
listen to an old white woman

her symptoms weren’t treated
and she died before I even came back.

I know I cried for her days ago,
but I will cry for her again and again,

and now I will not question
when I am shown the signs again.


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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



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