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

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing from memory her poem Keeping a Record of Going Too Far in her 4/5/14 Beast Women audition in Chicago’s the Den Theatre (C)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing from memory most of her poem Keeping a Record of Going Too Far in her 4/5/14 Beast Women audition in Chicago’s the Den Theatre (iPhone)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing from memory her poem Keeping a Record of Going Too Far in her 4/5/14 Beast Women audition in Chicago’s the Den Theatre (C, posterized)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Keeping a Record of Going Too Far from memory live 4/23/14 at the open mic the Café Gallery in Chicago (C)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Keeping a Record of Going Too Far from memory live 4/23/14 at the open mic the Café Gallery in Chicago (S)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing Keeping a Record of Going Too Far, Made Any Difference (to John’s song), and How People Interpret My Words 1/31/16 at the Austin music open mic Kick Butt Poetry (Cps).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing Keeping a Record of Going Too Far, Made Any Difference (to John’s song), and How People Interpret My Words 1/31/16 at the Austin music open mic Kick Butt Poetry (Nikon).

Keeping a Record of Going Too Far Janet Kuypers audition performance of “Too Far” and “Burn It In” edited 3/25/14 When he met me he told me I looked like Gwyneth Paltrow          (long blonde locks)... but as time wore on I knew I wasn’t her and I could never be her and I was never thin enough... pretty enough... good enough. So I straightened my hair, I straightened my teeth, bought a wonder bra — but it wasn’t doing the trick. So I bought slimfast, used the stair stepper, ate rice cakes and wheat germ — but I wasn’t thin enough          (I only dropped          twenty pounds). So I went to the spa: I soaked myself in mud, wrapped myself in cellophane, bought the amino acid facial creams — I even injected botulism into my face every three months — but I knew that all didn’t really work. So I went to the doctor. I got my nose slimmed, my tummy stapled, my thighs sucked... I thought about getting a rib or two removed —          you know,          like Cher — but I figured... My ribs? They’ve got to be there for something, and hey, that’s just going too far. But wait... What am I even doing this for? For men? For what, for men to like how I look? Is this supposed to make me happy? Why am I going too far when many men out there are rapists and oppressors? I’m more than just a plaything, this woman’s got a mind, and I’ve spent too many years shoving hand-written notes into my pockets, slamming my hands, my fingers into a keyboard because there were too many atrocities in the world, too many injustices that I had witnessed, too many people who had wronged me and I had a lot of work to do. There had to be a record of what you had done. I have defiled many pages in your honor, you who swung your battle ax high and thought us women would just stay quiet. Yes, I have defiled many pages and have you defiled many women? You, the man who rapes my friends? You, the man who rapes my sisters? You, the man who rapes me? Is this what makes you a strong man? You want to know why I do the things I do? I need to record these things. When my friends went off to war that is what kept me together. When women were raped and left for dead these writings kept me together. And when no one bothered to notice this, or change this, or care about this — these writings kept me together. I need to record these things to remind myself that there are things worth fighting for, worth dying for... I need to record these things to remind myself that I am alive.

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