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video See this YouTube video 4/25/21 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Everyone’s Afraid” for the 2021 Poetry Bomb at the Alamo (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoetrybomb
video See this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Everyone’s Afraid” for the 2021 Poetry Bomb 4/25/21 at the Alamo (this video was filmed and streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoetrybomb
video See this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Everyone᾿s Afraid” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 5/2/21” 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 #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoeticlicense #janetkuypersinstagram
video See a Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Everyone᾿s Afraid” during the “Poetic License virtual open mic 5/2/21” she hosted w/ a Zoom meeting & a Facebook event page (this video was filmed & streamed w/ a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem #janetkuyperspoeticlicense
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Everyone’s Afraid”, then her poem “You Have No Idea” from the proof copy of the from the cc&d June 2021 v310 28-year anniversary issue/paperback book (released 6/1/21) “Falling”, during the 5/30/21 Austin open mic Spoken and Heard (this video was filmed with a Charcoal filter from a Samsung S9 camera and given a Sepia Tone filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this Facebook live video stream of Janet Kuypers reading her poems “Everyone’s Afraid”, then her poem “You Have No Idea” from the proof copy of the from the cc&d June 2021 v310 28-year anniversary issue/paperback book (released 6/1/21) “Falling, during the 5/30/21 Austin open mic Spoken and Heard (this video was filmed with a Charcoal filter and streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this YouTube video 5/30/21 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Everyone’s Afraid live 5/23/21 at Kick Butt Coffee open mic Spoken and Heard” in Austin (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem
video Enjoy this YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem “Everyone’s Afraid” during the 5/30/21 Austin open mic Spoken and Heard (this video was filmed from a Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera and given a Hue Cycling filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoem
video Enjoy this YouTube video 3/30/22 of Janet Kuypers during her “Poetry & Open Mic at The Gallery Cabaret 3/30/22” feature night in Chicago, where she read her poems (including this one) in her “Taking off the Maskfeature and chapbook (Panasonic Lumix 2500 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this Facebook live video stream 3/30/22 of Janet Kuypers during her “Poetry & Open Mic at The Gallery Cabaret 3/30/22” feature night in Chicago, where she read her poems (including this one) in her “Taking off the Maskfeature and chapbook (this video was filmed & streamed live from a Samsung S9 camera with a Lava Lamp filter; posted on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this YouTube video 3/30/22 of Janet Kuypers during her “Poetry & Open Mic at The Gallery Cabaret 3/30/22” feature night in Chicago, where she read her poems “Vaccinated from What Happens in Wuhan”, “found pandemic haiku”, “Everyone’s Afraid”, “Out to the Horizon”, “jar for my beating heart”, “Because of Fire”, “Underground History”, “Quieting Anechoic Chamber”, “No One Reports for Women”, “like nothing ever happened”, “United We Wonder”, “Knew the Word”, and “Eighteen and Eight, Plus Eighteen: Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Seen” in her poetry feature “Taking off the Mask” (this video was filmed from a Samsung S7 camera and zoomed; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading
video Enjoy this YouTube video 3/30/22 of Janet Kuypers during her “Poetry & Open Mic at The Gallery Cabaret 3/30/22” feature night in Chicago, where she read her poems “Vaccinated from What Happens in Wuhan”, “found pandemic haiku”, “Everyone’s Afraid”, “Out to the Horizon”, “jar for my beating heart”, “Because of Fire”, “Underground History”, “Quieting Anechoic Chamber”, “No One Reports for Women”, “like nothing ever happened”, “United We Wonder”, “Knew the Word”, and “Eighteen and Eight, Plus Eighteen: Where We’ve Been and What We’ve Seen” in her poetry feature “Taking off the Mask” (this video was filmed from a Samsung S7 camera; on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr). #janetkuyperspoetry #janetkuypers #janetkuyperspoetryshow #janetkuypersbookreading

Everyone’s Afraid

Janet Kuypers
4/21/21

My immune system has been wreaking havoc on me
(I can’t say my father never gave me anything), for
with his genes, my cells stopped fighting against viruses
that wanted to swell my random joints into balloons.

Exhausting every homeopathic option I could muster,
I finally relented, perusing the pharmaceutical library —
took one drug after another, until they dropped me in a study
for a regular injectable drug they say is set to save me.

I don’t eat meat, I care for all the world, and my thanks
is a virus trying to make me explode from the inside out.
So me and my suppressed immune system saw no difference
in a new pandemic. Now everyone’s afraid... like I always am.

A year passes, and like a good little soldier I don’t question
what’s in an untested vaccine, and I don’t react to shots,
but with this second shot, I was reminded of what this virus
can really do, with every joint aching as I fever the pain away.

So as I lay here sick, only wanting to be better, I learn
that there are more microbes in my body than human cells.
We try to fight these miniature invisible monsters, but... if
less than half of me is even human, then, what on earth am I.


Copyright © Janet Kuypers.

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



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