poem “Entering the Lake of Fire”, a poem that speaks metaphorically about leaving the only home you have ever loved, and trying to come to grips with losing everything that ever meant anything to you, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 9/2/15 show “Like a Lamb to the Slaughter” in her feature at Poetry At The Gallery Cabaret in Chicago (Canon fs200), with her poems Entering the Lake of Fire, unless it happens to you, Open Book, electromagnetism, an edited version of the poem Everything was Alive and Dying, Death Takes Many Forms, and Under the Sea.

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 9/2/15 show “Like a Lamb to the Slaughter” in her feature at Poetry At The Gallery Cabaret in Chicago (Canon Power Shot), with her poems Entering the Lake of Fire, unless it happens to you, Open Book, electromagnetism, an edited version of her poem Everything was Alive and Dying, Death Takes Many Forms, and Under the Sea.

Download poems in the free chapbook
Like a Lamb to the Slaughter

of the NEW poems read 9/2/15 at the Café Gallery show in Chicago

See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading 4 poems 9/7/15 at the Chicago open mic Weeds (Canon fs200), w/ Vent, Tin, Entering the Lake of Fire, & electromagnetism.

See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading 4 poems 9/7/15 at the Chicago open mic Weeds (Canon P.S.), with Vent, Tin, Entering the Lake of Fire, & electromagnetism.

See YouTube video live of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Entering the Lake of Fire from memory 10/8/15 with music from the HA!Man of South Africa at Uncommon Ground in Chicago (Canon fs200)

See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading her poems Entering the Lake of Fire & New To Chicago from memory 10/8/15 with music from the HA!Man of South Africa at Uncommon Ground in Chicago (Cfs)

See YouTube video (Cps) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Entering the Lake of Fire 11/22/15 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry

See YouTube video
of Janet Kuypers reading 3 poems 11/22/15 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (Canon Power Shot), with Us, Actually Touching, Entering the Lake of Fire, & Unique Noise.

See YouTube video 4/27/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Entering the Lake of Fire in her first appearance/interview on Austin’s KOOP 91.7 FM radio (from a Canon P.S.).

See YouTube video 4/27/16 of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Entering the Lake of Fire in her first appearance/interview on Austin’s KOOP 91.7 FM radio (from a Sony camera).

See YouTube video 4/27/16 of part 2 of the Janet Kuypers interview (with her reading her two poems Entering the Lake of Fire and Us, Actually Touching), in her first appearance on Austin’s KOOP 91.7 FM radio (Canon P.S.).

See YouTube video 4/27/16 of part 2 of the Janet Kuypers interview (with her reading her two poems Entering the Lake of Fire and Us, Actually Touching), in her first appearance on Austin’s KOOP 91.7 FM radio (Sony).

Entering the Lake of Fire
Janet Kuypers
8/17/15
I’ve been taken away.
It’s against my will.
But I’m told it’s for the best,
and I always do what I’m told.
I look out the window, see a smattering of lights,
wonder where this tube is taking me.
On first glance, it looks like every other place.
Every place, except my home.
I’ve had to gently place all of my dreams,
my creations into this pristine box as tall as
the tallest skyscrapers, then bury it deep
in my chest, where all I love becomes a memory.
I don’t know what my destination will look like,
in the dead of night, when I arrive.
Everyone tells me I’ll love it there.
But an acclimated prisoner is still a prisoner.
I look in the mirror, try to gain my bearings.
My hair is starting to curl from the heat
and it makes me wonder if I’m Medusa
with snakes coming out of her head -
and here I am, tying to straighten my hair,
so people might not be so afraid of me,
so I might not turn everyone
who turns my way into stone.
But Medusa here has dreams,
creativity is crushed when I hide my heart,
buried in that box of gems, never to sparkle
again with a lack of light, or, the right light.
I know carrying past traumas
has always been my secret skill,
but Pandora here gave me a ball and chain
that drags at my ankle and stutters my step.
For now I’ve closed the box as tall as the sky
and my only choice is to enter Pandora’s Box,
where all of the evils of the world
will follow me wherever I go.

my hand to an anim of jkchair