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


the poetry audio CD set“HopeChest in the Attic”
Order this iTunes track
from the poetry audio CD
Hope Chest In The Attic
13 Years of Poetry & Prose
...Or order
the entire CD set from iTunes:
Janet Kuypers - Etc
the poetry CD Live at the Café Listen mp3 file to this track from
Live at the Café, now available in a
3 CD set from iTunes.
video
video not yet rated

Watch this YouTube video

(2:17) studio session 11/13/07
video
video not yet rated
Watch the YouTube video

(1:39) Live at Mercury Cafe,
live in Chicago 11/30/07
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
(2:48) read for the spiral-bound ISBN# book (woman) Jenene Raveslloot 03/29/11, live at the Café in Chicago
video videonot yet rated
Watch this YouTube video
of the intro to the 03/29/11 open mic at the Café in Chicago (where she is the host), with this poem reading
video video not yet rated
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Confident Women live 1/6/16 at Rad Radam Open Stage in Austin TX (Nikon Cool Pix S7000).
video video not yet rated
See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Confident Women live 1/6/16 at Rad Radam Open Stage in Austin TX (Canon Power Shot).

Confident Women

I met up with an old friend of mine
for drinks last week. I knew her
in high school, although we weren’t
close friends then. In those days she
needed therapy, had problems with drugs,
I think, or else it was just family
problems. I was a bit insecure myself,
shy, meek, scared of life. Since those days
we matured, we’re now more independent,
self-confident, self-assured women.
It was good to see her again. She
just came back from camping in
Australia; although physically I had
gone nowhere, we both had our stories
to tell over a bottle or two of wine.
And we gossiped, she told me of the
handsome Australian man she fell for,
I told her of the roller-coaster I call
my romantic life. And we laughed.
And then the gossip changed, her
voice lowered, and sounding stern
but quiet, she told me of how a man
broke into her apartment one night
last summer and he tried to rape her,
and after kicking and screaming
in her underwear she managed to
break free and her attacker escaped.
She told me they found the man,
and the trial is scheduled for later
in the month. And she sat there, with
her wine glass in her hand, looking
so confident, as if she knew she
won this battle. Trying not to sound
corny, I told her I could give her
a hug. And she leaned on my shoulder,
and she cried, hiccuping as she
tried to catch her breath. They
would make her recount everything
on the stand, she said, and the defense
lawyers would try to make her sound
promiscuous because she slept
alone in her underwear. I told her I
would go with her to the trial. I told her
she is winning by speaking out.
Self-assured women. Confident women.
How confident are we supposed to be?


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

the book Hope Chest In The Attic Life on the Edge, 2007 ccd collection book, front cover It All Comes Down, 2007 Janet Kuypers book, front cover Rising to the Surface, 2007 Janet Kuypers book, front cover the CD set Live at the Cafe (3 CD set)