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

I never took a life until I took my own three poems I “the leader” I never took a life until I took my own because you see, I never took my own life in my own hands before And how can you really control someone else if you can’t control yourself? and when I figured that much out, well, then, taking the rest of them was easy Everyone loved me everyone wanted to follow me, and everyone thought I was something great I must be a god How does she have it all together how does she know what to do why does she seem so happy what’s her secret No one understood that they have to take their lives from the people who try to run them for them And if they understood this little fact then no one would have understood how to take their lives back and how do you explain the color blue to a blind man? II “the martyr” I never took a life until I took my own I never had the power to pull people in to make people react but when I decided it was my time boy, I left a legacy behind, I became a hero, and oh, the masses loved me then They scratched my name into their arm with a pin, a knife or a fountain pen, they cried in my honor, they went to my gravesite and left roses, scratched crosses on my tombstone, drank with me and left half-empty flasks on saturday nights But it’s funny how they only loved me, held me as their idol after I slain myself, after I was gone III “the lost” I never took a life until I took my own I never wanted to be on this earth I never wanted any part of it I never had the courage to kill the killers I never wanted to play their game but I guess I have I never wanted to take a life but I should have control over my own destiny and if I don’t want to be here, well, I should have that right and this one thing Iv’e done is the first thing I’ve ever done for myself in my life

The line “I never took a life until I took my own” was a title of a poem by Ray Young. “How do you explain the color blue to a blind man” is from the poem “Doctor” by Janet Kuypers. Scratching my name into their arms with a fountain pen is a reference to “Rusholme Ruffians” by Steven Morrissey. Scratching crosses on tombstones refers to a ceremony often conducted on Marie LeVeau’s tombstone in New Orleans. Copyright Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.