Poetry Reading – Page 5

Janet Kuypers’ “Exalted Love” 2/4/17 poetry feature/show with background music

May 8, 2017 by Janet Kuypers

Below are writing links, video links and images from a February 4^th 2017 (2/4/17, or 20170204) poetry performance of Janet Kuypers’ Austin poetry feature “Exalted Love” through “Greatest Love” live in Austin Texas.

The theme of the night with other features was about poetry and was about not just love (because Valentine’s Day is this month), but the “Greatest Love” , which can be interpreted philosophically in so many ways. So Janet Kuypers covered this very explicitly in her show about the love of a person, the love of nature, the love of astronomy, or even discovering the right book to bring the love of the right philosophy, bringing meaning to your life. Her “Exalted Love” show was also accompanied by music from Mozart (“the Dissonant”) rainforest sounds, and “Hotel Music” from the HA!Man of South Africa (Francois Le Roux, with “the story i am trying to tell” and “easy afternoon” both from his “Hotel Music”).

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Before the show started she also released copies to most everyone there of a chapbook of the writings she was performing in her show (in the order they were performed), and all of the pieces from this reading were also released electronically in a &#8220Exalted Love” chapbook, which you can download as a PDF file for free any time.

Read the poems from the show:

“Mapping the Way to True Love”
“Years, Centuries, Eons”
“Zenith of the Night Sky”
“just one book”

Bonus videos in the above playlist include “after the show” poems, like “Amber Beads”, “Praying to Idols”, “Unless it Happens to You”, and the haiku “oceans”.

Canon Power Shot video still from Exalted Love show

Janet Kuypers’ “Ultimate Connectivity” 10/16/16 poetry feature/show with live guitar

December 12, 2016 by Janet Kuypers

Janet Kuypers’ “Ultimate Connectivity” 10/5/16 poetry feature/show with live guitar

Below are video links from an October 16^th 2016 (10/16/16, or 20161016) poetry performance (with accompanying background guitar by John) of Janet Kuypers’ Austin poetry feature through the Awesmic City Expo preview at the Palmer Events Center that incorporated peace and connectivity into poetry with brand new poems written specifically for this event.

The video listing here includes the two videos FROM the show at the Palmer Events Center in Austin Texas, but the second playlist of videos videos of later readings of individual poems at open mics in Austin (plus a video of one poem performed with live music from the HA!Man of South Africa 11/13/16 at Unity Church of the Hills in Austin).

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Before the show started she also released copies to most everyone there of a chapbook of the writings she was performing in her show (in the order they were performed), and all of the pieces from this reading were also released electronically in a “Ultimate Connectivity” chapbook, which you can download as a PDF file for free any time.

Read the poems from the show:

“Ultimate Connectivity: trying to separate peace from war”

“Ultimate Connectivity: aches and pains”

“Ultimate Connectivity: how coffee can be relaxing”

“Ultimate Connectivity: getting naked with nature”

“Ultimate Connectivity: swimming with the fishes”

“Ultimate Connectivity: forgetting fear and feeling free”

“Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”

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Janet Kuypers’ “Masquerading in Costumes & Personas” 10/1/16 poetry feature/show

February 12, 2019November 7, 2016 by Janet Kuypers

Janet Kuypers’ “Masquerading in Costumes & Personas” 10/1/16 poetry feature/show

Below are writing links and video links from a October 1^st 2016 (10/1/16, or 20161001) poetry performance (with costume changes for every poem reading) of Janet Kuypers’ Austin poetry feature through Expressions 2016: the Metaphor of Costumes at Austin’s the Bahá’í Center. The usual host for this event (Thom Woodruff) was out of town at another event in Waco TX, so he asked Janet to take over the reigns and host this evening, where she chose the theme of costumes (since for this monthly event, October ends with Halloween).

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Before the show started she also released copies to most everyone there of a chapbook of the writings she was performing in her show (in the order they were performed), and all of the pieces from this reading were also released electronically in a “Masquerading in Costumes & Personas” chapbook, which you can download as a PDF file for free any time.

Read the poems and songs below:

before the show:
“Masquerade”

the show:
“Curium”
“This Halloween”
“This Halloween Again”
“Salesman”

after the show:
“On All Fours”
“Observations: Nine and Six”
“Vanishing Scars”

Janet Kuypers’ “Thoughts on Peace” 8/6/16 peace (and vegetarian) themed poetry feature/show

February 12, 2019September 1, 2016 by Janet Kuypers

Below are text links and video links from a August 6^th 2016 (8/6/16, or 20160706) poetry performance (with background rain forest noises to accompany the readings) of Janet Kuypers’ Austin poetry feature through Expressions (of Peace)! at Austin’s the Bahá’í Center in Austin, Texas hat incorporated poetry about peace into a show. Kuypers opted to sit in the lotus position on stage for the performance (and sat o a raised platform so audience members could see her during the live show).

Because this was a peace-themed performance, Kuypers started the show talking about the Egyptian Goddess ISIS in comparison to what we now know as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but transitioned into talk about peace to all living creatures (like animals, and being a vegetarian) with portions of her editorial from cc&d’s v249 21 year anniversary book Invisible Ink, until she ended with two poems on being a vegetarian. Kuypers also thought a appropriate title for her show would be “Thoughts on Peace”, especially because she ended the show with a poem that ends cutting in mid-sentence with “and I thought:” — where she sat for a moment in the lotus position like she was going to continue, then she closed her eyes and bowed her head as the entire center remained in silence until the rain forest music started to fade and she opened her eyes and said “thank you”.

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Before the show started she also released copies to most some of the audience there of a chapbook of the writings she was performing in her show (in the order they were performed). All of the pieces from this reading were also released electronically in a “Thoughts on Peace” chapbook, which you can download as a PDF file for free any time.

Here is a listing with links to all of the writings performed in this live show:

“Queen ISIS (battling for peace)”
“Choices We Make”
“Everything was Alive and Dying (2016 cruelty to animals edition)”
“On a High Horse Like This”

Janet Kuypers’ “Voting for Change” 7/2/16 politically themed poetry feature

August 18, 2016 by Janet Kuypers

Below are video links from a July 2^nd 2016 (7/2/16, or 20160702) poetry performance (with accompanying guitar music by John) of Janet Kuypers’ Austin poetry feature through Expressions 2016: Poets Parliament! at Austin’s the Bahá’í Center (at 2215 E M Franklin Ave, Austin, TX 78723) that incorporated poetry into politics (and potentially solve political problems poetically). Because political pundits and talking heads are on many 24-hour news channels, Kuypers opted to “show” herself in tis show as a “talking head”, by not only remaining seated (like an anchorperson) but also filming herself on stage and simultaneously broadcasting her “performance” on a television right on stage next to her… Because in the past, when she has done this in Chicago shows, she learned that most audience members, like the average American, are often more fascinated with watching a television screen than watching a person live on stage.

Because this was a politics-themed performance, and because the usually give away stickers to p[eople after voting to show the world they voted that day, Kuypers thought a appropriate title for her show would be “Voting for Change” (since a third party never can make enough money to spend their way into position in this country, there are usually only two viable candidates for any position, which usually forces the voter to chose between the lesser of two evils whenever they enter a polling booth).

Before the show started she also released copies to most everyone there of a chapbook of the writings she was performing in her show (in the order they were performed), and all of the pieces from this reading were also released electronically in a “Voting for Change” chapbook, which you can download as a PDF file for free any time.

Below are video links to the live performance of “Voting for Change” at Expressions 2016: Poets Parliament! in Austin.

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Here is a listing with links to all of the writings performed in this liveshow:

True Happiness in the New Millennium (2016 edit)
Orders
The State of the Nation (2016 edit)
Everything was Alive and Dying (2016 political edit)
a Great American (2016 edit)

Janet Kuypers’ “Obey” 6/4/16 female-themed poetry feature

February 11, 2019July 21, 2016 by Janet Kuypers

Below are video links from a June 4^th 2016 (6/4/16, or 20160604) poetry performance of Janet Kuypers’ Austin poetry feature through Expressions 2016: June is a Woman! at Austin’s the Bahá’í Center about being a woman, and about what women go through. Because she happened to see this spray-painted word on the side of the road this spring (when construction workers often write single words down to indicate things like where power lines are under ground), she had to take pictures with the word she saw, and she therefore decided to title this show “Obey”. In this show she also ran repeating images projected on the screen behind her of her drawings of woman alternating with her edited “Obey” images, and sampled in the background during her readings were instrumentals from 3 tracks from the Laurie Anderson album release, “the Ugly One with the Jewels”. She even explained to the live audience after the show that she even chose to wear a flapper dress for this show, because (A) that time period reflected the time just after women gained the right to vote in the United States, and (B) this clothing was the irst obvious sign of women wanted to stand on their own (and enjoy themselves too). It didn’t hurt that in Kuypers’ animation in her show (like doing the twist or jumping on a hotel bed, or even with her animated gestures during all of her performance), the fringe one her dress would exaggerate her movements as well.

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Before the show started she also released copies to most everyone there of a chapbook of the writings she was performing in her show (in the order they were performed), and all of the pieces from this reading were also released electronically in a “Obey” chapbook, which you can download as a PDF file for free any time.

Read her haiku poems
progress,
extend,
falling,
civil,
and greatest,
then read her poems
Earth is a Topiary (her 1st of 2 poems where she used a voice modulator to reads parts of her poem in a male voice),
On Becoming a Woman (an editing and expansion of her 1999 poem Becoming a Woman),
Viewing the Woman in a 19th Century Photograph (an editing of her 1991 poem Photograph, Nineteenth Century and her 2nd of 2 poems where she used a voice modulator to reads parts of her poem in a male voice),
Content With Inferior Men, portions of her poem
In The Air with slightly altered wording, and
Oh, She Was a Woman (an editing of her 1997 poem She Was a Woman).

(Thanks to Thom for some photos from the event.)