poem “extinct on planet earth”, a poem about how people, after they die, can become nothing moe than just a few words, like listings of long extinct species on planet earth, By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

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

extinct on planet earth
Janet Kuypers
3/22/15
saw a slew of books for sale recently
of species now extinct on planet earth
some books were massive volumes,
like large catalogs categorizing the now dead
and I heard a statistic a while ago
saying a species goes extinct every 90 seconds
I mean, these books can’t be up to date
when so much in our world is dying so quickly
ninety nine percent of all species
that have ever lived on earth        are now gone
when I think of the death that precedes us,
when I think of the death we see around us
I wonder,                      when a loved one dies
do they become a name that will be forgotten
maybe listed in a catalog
like all these long gone extinct species
I think of a man
who told me he loved me
I think of my mother
and I wonder,
will all that is left of that life,
will it all be reduced to a line of type
in small print, cataloged by genome
maybe there’s a word or two, beyond a name
but just a few words                is this all that is left

See YouTube video of the poem reading by Janet Kuypers of extinct on planet earth (w/ John playing guitar) in her 3/28/15 show “Journey” at Sisters on a Journey in Hyde Park in Chicago (Canon fs200)

See YouTube video of the poem reading by Janet Kuypers of extinct on planet earth (w/ John playing guitar) in her 3/28/15 show “Journey” at Sisters on a Journey in Hyde Park in Chicago (Canon Power Shot)

See YouTube video of the 3/28/15 Janet Kuypers show “Journey” (w/ John playing guitar) at Sisters on a Journey in Hyde Park in Chicago (filmed with a Canon fs200), of 14 poem readings about her mother, WITH THIS PIECE

See YouTube video of the 3/28/15 Janet Kuypers show “Journey” (w/ John playing guitar) at Sisters on a Journey in Hyde Park in Chicago (filmed with a Canon Power Shot), of 14 poem reading about her mother, INCLUDING THIS PIECE

Download this poems in the free chapbook
“Journey”, w/ poems read 3/28/15
at Sisters on a Journey show in Hyde Park (Chicago)

See YouTube video
of the poem reading by Janet Kuypers of extinct on planet earth 6/10/15 at the Chicago open mic “Elizabeth’s Crazy Little Thing” (Canon fs200)

See YouTube video
of the poem reading by Janet Kuypers of extinct on planet earth 6/10/15 at the Chicago open mic “Elizabeth’s Crazy Little Thing” (Canon PS)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers’ 2 poems, Vent and extinct on planet earth 6/10/15 at the Chicago open mic “Elizabeth’s Crazy Little Thing” (Canon fs200 video camera)

See YouTube videoof Janet Kuypers’ 2 poems, Vent and extinct on planet earth 6/10/15 at the Chicago open mic “Elizabeth’s Crazy Little Thing” (Canon Power Show camera)

my hand to an anim of jkchair