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

See this YouTube video (2:23) live 05/11/11 at “Elizabeth’s Crazy Little Thing” Chicago open mic

Watch this YouTube video read live in the show “hmmm” 11/20/11 at the Café open mike in Chicago

Watch this YouTube video of the entire Janet Kuypers show “hmm” live 11/20/11 at the Café open mike in Chicago

Watch this YouTube video read live at Café Mestizo 1/21/12, with music & video from the HA!man of South Africa (Francois Le Roux) open mike in Chicago

Watch this YouTube video of her reading “Upstage Everyone Else” and “on a High Horse Like This” live at Café Mestizo 1/21/12, with music & video from the HA!man of South Africa (Francois Le Roux) open mike in Chicago

See YouTube video of Kuypers reading this poem 3/18/13 at the Frankenstone art center in Chicago (Canon)

See YouTube video of Kuypers performing 5 poems (including this one) in a poetry reading to “Make people Think” 3/18/13 at Chicago’s Frankenstone art center (Canon)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem On a High Horse Like This (in the chapbook “Attacking with Poetry”) 4/27/14 (C) at Chicago’s 2014 Poetry Bomb (in Lincoln Square)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem On a High Horse Like This (in the chapbook “Attacking with Poetry”) 4/27/14 (C) at Chicago’s 2014 Poetry Bomb (in Lincoln Square), Threshold

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem On a High Horse Like This from her book Bon Voyage! live 7/25/15 on Chicago’s WZRD 88.3 FM radio (Cfs)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem On a High Horse Like This from her book Bon Voyage! live 7/25/15 on Chicago’s WZRD 88.3 FM radio (Cfs200, FlCrSat)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems Everything was Alive and Dying and On a High Horse Like This 1/10/16 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (from a Canon Power Shot).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poems Everything was Alive and Dying and On a High Horse Like This 1/10/16 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (from a Nikon CoolPix S7000).

On a High Horse Like This Janet Kuypers 02/22/11 I listened to a hunter from Africa say “all life is sacred” and he said that after separating a small, thin, non-venomous snake from around a large African hawk-like bird’s neck because you see, the bird attacks snakes, but that snake couldn’t eat the large bird once it died: that would have been a senseless death. “all life is sacred,” you say. so I couldn’t help but think: as a hunter, do you pray for the sacred dead after you killed it? I mean, I don’t usually vocalize when I’m on a high horse like this and I’ve had to explain myself to meat eaters: no these aren’t leather shoes I wear; I’m a vegetarian. though I still have to feign a smile to commiserate with men eating slaughtered animal. cause you see, I’d look like a fool for having beliefs. people don’t want to hear about a moral choice different from their own. I mean, we’re Americans, if it’s not human, or maybe a dog or a cat, eat it. it’s that simple. ### but I married a hunter a marine who served our country and he told me that every time he killed an animal a part of him felt a regretful twinge of pain when he killed his prey. the prey that he searched for. with a weapon he could use before anything got close enough to be an enemy. oh, I’m sorry. I’m getting on my high horse again. it’s convenient that people can get their kill from the grocery store without getting any blood on their hands. anything to stop everyone from thinking about what they’re doing. because I’ve heard that killing something makes you feel something. And I thought: Copyright © 2011 Janet Kuypers. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.