Janet Kuypers reads the original poem "addict", during her show at the Mercury Cafe in Chicago 02/16/08. The show was a 10 minute feature to highlight people who had previously read at Mercury Cafe.
For more information on the writing of Janet Kuypers, go to http://www.janetkuypers.com to read more of her work.
These are some of the original poem that were in this show:
The Cycle
It all came to her like this:
she remembered when she was a child
coloring eggs
for Easter, wire spoons
dipping into the cup; colors of spring
and happiness
left to dry on a newspaper.
And she would always steal some away
to eat
before Sunday. And she
would hide the pastel shell in the trash,
the evidence,
and she'd hide the yolk,
too. She only liked the white of it. And
then she
remembers the onion skins,
boiling eggs wrapped in layers of skin
dyed them
beautiful shades of brown,
like the amber beads in mother's jewelry
chest, the
variations of color,
trapped by nature, captured by ourselves.
And she remembers
as a child listening to the McKinleys, an
older pair
with stories of
Panama, Mexico. They had so many foreign
stories to tell:
once they gave her an
egg for Christmas, a carnival egg, with the
inside blown
out, filled with confetti,
covered in colorful crepe paper. She
made her own,
relished in cracking
them over people's heads. But she saved
theirs.
And now she stands
in the kitchen, scrambling them for
morning meal,
yellow and white,
the colors in the nursery for the child
still inside
of her. She can feel
the kicking now. And she wants to know
if she can give
the color, the stories,
bring the cycle of life around for her little
one.
And she puts breakfast once again
on the plate.
—
Robert
I stand in a room full of strangers
leaning against a wall
a wallflower
but I was content with knowing no one
with knowing you
beer glass in hand
you introduce me to
the vast assortment of drunken fools
you call your friends
and I stand there
merely happy to be by your side
a stranger
intoxicated to the point of being comatose
tells me I'm pretty
but I really don't care
because I have you
you are all I need
as the rest of the party imbibes to no end
and you take yourself
down the road to oblivion
I stay leaning
leaning against the wall
and I watch
you sing a song with your buddies
laugh at the stupidest jokes
eat dog food
and I keep thinking
that this was all I needed to be happy
you seemed to be
all that mattered in the world to me
how was I to know
that I was leaning against the wall
because you gave me no support
—
Falling From the Sky
I'm taking a one-way flight today
And you know, when people say they have a one-way ticket
You assume the plane
is landing them somewhere
And not flying them back
But lucky me, my only way back
Is to jump out of the sky
And hope I land on my own two feet
And my flight takes off
In just a little while
And I can feel that tension knot
That knot's rope, being pulled
By all my nerves
And like it was heartburn
I want to slam my fist into my chest
To try to make the pain go away
So I've spent all my life
Trying to soar so high
But I guess I have to be prepared
For coming back to earth
—
Terrorism Intelligence
terrorism has been growing for years
one year before nine eleven
Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet
mailed a letter bomb
but didn't use enough postage
his letter bomb came back to him
marked "return to sender"
Khay Rahnajet opened the letter bomb,
blowing himself up in the process
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Frank Sanazi : Strangers On My Flightby TheRealFrankSanazi50,233 views
Terrorism Intelligence
terrorism has been growing for years
one year before nine eleven
Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet
mailed a letter bomb
but didn't use enough postage
his letter bomb came back to him
marked "return to sender"
Khay Rahnajet opened the letter bomb,
blowing himself up in the process
enigma2kiki 2 years ago
Poem was probably great. Wish I could hear it!
torgausen 2 years ago