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

My First Time Janet Kuypers 06/07/11 there are some towns known for their food... New Orleans has it’s Po-Boy Philadelphia has it’s Philly Cheese Steak and if you’re in New York and want to carry food out on a street you better get a pizza slice fold it in half and eat it with one hand And if you’re in Chicago (and you can’t eat a deep-dish pizza with one hand in the street) you better get a Chicago-style Hot Dog with yellow mustard, relish (the bright green kind), hot peppers, tomatoes, onions, celery salt and a pickle on top I lived in Chicago all my life frequented the tops of sky scrapers visited legendary blues bars but even when I was a meat eater I never had a Chicago Hot Dog just ketchup, please I’ll take the pickle on the side and I don’t even like hot peppers but as we left the Planetarium today I passed a Chicago-style hot dog vendor cart and they listed Vegetarian Hot Dogs as a choice for the Chicago Hot Dog I passed it, then I stopped. walked back and asked for a Vegetarian Hot Dog with everything except the hot peppers (and no, ketchup is not included when you say “everything”) and when I got my paper-wrapped Vegetarian Chicago Hot Dog I was tempted to pull the pickle away and they had to remind me no, that’s a part of the Chicago Hot Dog so I put it all together took a bite then I took another and another and I thought, I’ve been missing out on this fantastic Chicago tradition all my life I heard the Chicago Hot Dogs started during the Depression because it was something cheap you could sell it on the streets and it was a full meal: meat, bread, vegetables all at a reasonable price and I thought, we Chicagoans had it all figured out with a gooey, deep dish pizza when you had the time to sit down as well as a way to make any hot dog taste awesome when you wanted a treat on the street Copyright © 2011 Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.

Listen live (2:51) Or watch the YouTube video written & read 06/07/11, live at the Café

See feature-length YouTube video (21:47) of Kuypers reading her poems My First Time, Chicago West Side, Chess Game Again, Arrowhead, Realistic Dreams, Was Immune, To Be Different, Sunrise, Meant To Be, New Vacuum Cleaner and Skittery live 06/07/11 at the Café

This mini-feature video (which contains a reading of this writing) can also be seen at Chicago People

Watch this YouTube video of the intro to the 06/07/11 open mic at the Café in Chicago, plus 2 new poems, & Close Cover Before Striking poems

Watch the YouTube video from IPB: the feature 06/29/11 of Impromptu Poetry on the Beach

See feature-length YouTube video of many poems read at Beach Poets from IPB: the Impromptu Poetry on the Beach feature 06/29/11