Everything Was Alive and Dying, a Janet Kuypers poem

[baxtar1963]

If it wasn't for the left this world would already be unlivable. Obama may not seem like the saviour we thought but having a republican controlled government now would certainly put this country six feet under. Maybe thats what we need to do just make things absolutely horrible before real change can be put in place.

[MrElricStorm]

@baxtar1963 Ron Paul 2012, there is no republican democrat. its an illusion, a paradigm. if you follow thier thought process you are always mentally defeated. google alex jones.

[pnutbutrncrackers]

I don't think my comments, however carefully and sensitively expressed, would stand a chance, I really don't. But maybe, just maybe, this one, in its own way, might.

[hkssupratt]

awesome...man!

[MaryAClark1]

Great passion! Thought-provoking for those who can still think, and they are: people who are connected to the real physical and metaphysical world. You have unmasked the robo-ideologues right and left.

[pauldavisfan]

Love it!

[bruce3128]

nice ferns in the background

[tlwill56]

Ya, you pick on all the conservatives...but your new president has all the answers... right? Things have sure gotten better lately.... WHAT A JOKE!!

[ccandd96]

hey tlwill56, I never said I voted for Obama. I know he's a Chicago transplant and that's where I'm from, but that doesn't mean I voted for him. (I know that pretty much the rest of my state did, so what can you do.)

Not that the poem said anything about current politics. (Granted, it did rip on a few people at one point, but it pulled on political as well as religious names in the list). Its about the way people live, not voting.

[ccandd96]

Yeah, it would be great if people would think about the ideas in the writing here. Hopefully this makes people think, that's all.

[ActionAm7]

probably time to get back to the text & the ideas & the challenge

[scars93]

Sorry, but I just read the last few comments, and I know the woman in the video, and she's actually more prudish than whorish. It looks like she's somewhere warm in the video, so it makes sense that she's not covered in fabric (like that other commenter apparently preferred).

[enigma2kiki]

Someone said she was not wearing a bra? I mean, I know they sold those bra tops at WalMart (I bought two). And so that guy was more focused on her chest than her message in the poem? Wow, people are base (and basic).

[alexandriarand]

Yeah, someone made a comment like that. I know I saw it yesterday, but at least they had the sense tp pull pointless comments that had nothing to do with the material in the poem from the video post.

[alexandriarand]

Oh my god... I just read a text post from someone yesterday (I don't remember the name) who basically said this woman is a whore and is not wearing a bra. Just looking at the video, I can see that she is wearing a bra top, and how the f$%& do they deduce a good-looking woman talking about environmental issues is a whore? People are so retarded!

[klashgdhsaeg]

i'd do her

[gathens1]

well, at least they've proven there are still base and obnoxious people watching youtube. can people not at least listen to the message in what she is saying?

[ccandd96]

Oh hi. thin ego over here just pulled a spam comment for watching this on some other movie url. Yes, because I pull spam comments other may think I have a thin ego. Oh well, I can take the bad with the good, but when people post garbage it gets uplled.

[4tinman8]

I see critical comments don't get posted. Do you have a thin ego?

[ccandd96]

Usually the only real criticisms to videos these pages receive talk about tactless things like chest size (and not the writing itself), so if the comments are not on the writing (which I thought is supposed to be the point of posting these comments), the negative responses (that are irrelevant to the writing or the delivery) would be pulled.

[ccandd96]

For example, just today we got a "porn star" comment. Is that really necessary? No, so it is pulled. Tactless comments from tactless people are removed. If people make valid constructive comments about the writing, it is included.

[ccandd96]

In fact, "delutional fool" was just used in a post (and they could not even spell "delusional" correctly) about a poem philosophy. Whether or not everything is believed in a philosophy, if what is said is based on reality than it is hard to rip on the philosophy as a whole (there are many philosophies I do not agree with, but if everyone adhered to the philosophy then it would work).

There are just a lot of people who make unfounded comments on something that do not deserve merit, that's all.

[kevtphoto]

damn good! damn good!

[cytuber]

Well done :)

[bdicat]

Intense, couldnt stop watching you reciting it

[Da5thProject]

wow this is deep i used to write poetry

but i quit for good reason 2

[mentalmoomin]

Absolutely beautifull, poignant.. tragic and packed with reality and fact.. Our existence is the irony, we are a cancer.

We are all as uniquely beautifull and individual as every other creature on this planet, But we without excuse..there is none.. continue to massacre LIFE.. Its all so disposable.. people have become so de- sensitised.. WELL DONE X

[jyamamo]

I'm not pointing a finger and screaming "J'accuse!" here, just pondering. Maybe it's OK, like when someone told Lou Reed, "I couldn't wait to take heroin after listening to your song" and he replied, "So what did you do after listening to 'Suicide'?" He knew where he stood and he had the right answer; people are responsible for the choices they make.

By the way, how did you get these silly reply boxes to come out in order? Mine are all in reverse order, with the last one on top!

[ccandd96]

It's just a piece to make people think, like most artists would say about their work, but I think you get that. Um, and my replies, I just kept replying with the next paragraph, and on my Mac here everything is listed in order.

Anyway, glad the piece at least made you (and others) think about things...

- ccandd96

[jyamamo]

I'm not sure about this. I enjoyed it up until the end, and I could handle the ending myself, but how are you going to feel if the police are cleaning up after a gory suicide and turn up a note saying, "I listened to your poem on YouTube, Janet, and you're right - my only choice is to destroy myself"?

I'm not out of sympathy with what you're saying, but I don't think I'd say it that way myself; those words at the end there are words that could come back and haunt you. Think Fisher King.

[ccandd96]

Fascinating. The poem talks about how peopl, by the things readily available in our society (caffeine, nicotine, morphine... as smell exhaust fumes, you know, that kind of stuff) are killing ourselves, and you infer that it's tempting someone to commit suicide. For all of the years people have heard/read this poem, I have never received that inference.

[ccandd96]

If you (jyamamo) didn't get it, I'm sorry. But the point is that humans are doing things to kill ourselves off with the choices that people think are automatic and natural, even though we say we're not trying to. When people hear they have arthritis, or heart problems, they are told a better diet is a vegetarian one... But people don't want to think of that idea, because they like the taste of their prey.

[ccandd96]

We live where people drive their car 3 miles to go to work (my husband just caught on and thinks it's good exercise to walk to and from work instead of waste the gas). The point of the poem is that the average person makes a lot of choices which aren't good for them, and trying to do something more moral or better for you seems too radical for people to understand.

[ccandd96]

If someone actually killed themselves after reading/hearing this poem, I wouldn't think that it was my poem's fault, but wonder what was wrong in the mind of the person who killed themselves. I mean, I WROTE it, and I think there are better options and haven't killed myself. I just try to live well.

[jyamamo]

Hi, Janet, thanks for replying. Don't get me wrong, I have listened several times and enjoyed it and I do see where you're coming from. Actually, this came up talking to some of my students about how John Lennon's killer had a copy of Catcher in the Rye. We didn't think that was Salinger's problem (his book isn't inciting anyone to do anything, the guy was just a nut), but that led to discussion of the Stones at Altamont, the radio show host in The Fisher King and, well, this poem.

[jyamamo]

"Maybe shoot ourselves in the head in front of the mirror in the master bedroom, or maybe just take some pills, locked in the garage, turn on the car and just fall asleep."

Hmm. I know the poem is about living more carefully and thoughtfully, but this ending could be taken as saying the kindest thing you can do for the planet and biological diversity is to top yourself. I know it's hypothetical, but what if some lonely soul heard it and took it that way and acted on it?

[firedog501]

5 Stars!!! - Is it even possible to explain how awesome this video is???

Great poem, it fits so many amazing points it would take hours to explain otherwise into 8 minutes worth of presentation.

Is it so much to eat less meat?

Is it so much to recycle paper?

Is anyone asking too much of anyone else?

Just care about the things you see around you.

It's really just that simple.

[vrouwinglas]

this is strong and striking, thanks

[JellyKimSugarBoom14]

Wow Thankyou.

This is amazing.

[SenorMatthew]

Thats awesome!

[bobboberan]

that was cool well read you really capture the listener ...played the video twice

[raZchantZ]

to live to love to learn to love to live ...

... roni may az raZ rantZ chantZ

[heynimrod888]

I can't stop watching this--it's unbelievably good and inspirational.

[Rockguitarnow]

Cool poem. :)

Rock on!

[chadlen]

your words are so strong, and i admire your passion.

[synthetickat]

"When somebody eats one of you

word gets around"...

Definitely my favorite line! So good!

[Heinousness]

this is an awesome story

[RantVideos]

Bravo! thanks for reminding me " it's not what you say , it's how you say it. good Mae West. I like useing her tone too.

[PopStarBlossom]

Great Video! Please Return the love on Blossom's Page!

[enigma2kiki]

Wow, I've seen her perform this in shows of heres, and I think it's one of her best pieces. I thought it was also cool that she was in a forest, but you can still hear cars or an airplane or some noise clashing with the nature.