Hello are you better
Are you there
Were going to have to do better
we’re going to have to do better
do the flowers bloom in heaven
does the wind blow the branches of the trees
and send the leaves falling
does the corn ripen,
then turn brown in the fall
does my love wait for me there
do the butterflies visit the flower
do the birds fly the skies, build nests
do people fall in love there
he pauses
out of chaos comes order
out of order, chaos
and with no Observer
there is nothing
In continuing with the tradition of the annual meetings of the Poetry Comb (started on the last Sunday of April in Chicago), Janet Kuypers decided to go sponsor Austin’s 2017 Poetry Bomb at Graffiti Wall at Castle Hill outdoors for her Austin, TX installment of this annual Chicago poetry tradition on April 30rd, 2017, starting at 3:30 in the afternoon. She invited people to got together to read poetry at a place that is not an open mic, to just share poetry with passers-by — and people did go there to join her to read poetry — but they never found each other in the vast outdoors space! Either way, Janet Kuypers did read a number of her short poems (all poems she had either never read before, or only read once in public, so they were not well-known poems) when she decided to “Drop the Bomb” — the poetry bomb, that is. (And it is funny that John chose to facebook live stream some of her reading, because that is the only way we found that some people went to Graffiti Park, and we happened to miss each other)
[tubepress mode=’playlist’ playlistValue=’PLYa-AZK78_hq0YtLIjNg9kYfKojW3uusl’ ]
In addition to YouTube videos, there was also a live facebook streaming video of a good portion of the reading as well (since it was a live facebook streaming video, it could not be placed in the YouTube video playlist from this event).
Before the show started she also released a chapbook of all of the short poems she held slated to read (and she read all of them expect the last poem in the chapbook), and this chapbook “Drop the Bomb” is still available online even during her reading, so anyone could (and can) download, or view online for free, the chapbook titled “Drop the Bomb” as a PDF file for free any time.
Read the poems from the show:
“control”
“earth”
“enjoy”
“unbounded”
“Just Thinking About It”
“Kick Someone Out”
“Lades and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls”
“Exhaling Toxic Fumes”
“Jumping from the Mausoleum”
“Just to be On the Safe Side”
“Nobody Finds Me”
“Bored the Night Before 9/11”
“energy”
“errors”
“rescue”
“This is Only a Test”
“You”
“Only Searching”
“Ugly Babies need the Most Love”
“Bimbo”
“Good Escape”
“Goth Girl Photographer”
“Koala Porn”
“Occupy”
“On a Downtown Chicago Light Pole”
“On This Ride”
“Marne Rifle Poem”
“No Thank You”
“He makes me Think about These Things”
“(and you could hold me)”
“From Words to Wars”
JD DeHart – Reading and Literature Resources
A Few Words about Cartoon Molecules by Robin Ouzman Hislop
Review by JD DeHart
A central question I had in reading this book was, where will the words appear next? Not only does the author use a variety of poetic techniques, demonstrating that he is an experienced poet who knows his stuff, but the words themselves appear where he wants them.
Robin Ouzman Hislop displays a sense of agency with his words, sometimes spreading them out, sometimes writing them in a prose-like way. “one more for the road” is a prime example of this world and word play, but it far from the only one.
Moreover, this poet shows the reader that he knows literature and the world. These poems are brimming with references (not to mention Hislop’s creativity). The writing is honest and rings true, while being rhythmic and poetic at the same time.
I have been somewhat with Hislop because of his editing over the past years, and I am most grateful that he gave me the chance to read his work.
Visit this link to purchase the book at Amazon Amazon.com Cartoon Molecules Robin Ouzman Hislop for more info on the author see Aquillrelle.com – Authors Page – Robin Ouzman Hislop
Because March 21st is “World Poetry Day”, Janet Kuypers hosted an afternoon event at Half Price Books in Austin, where people read poems about a variety of topics.
Below are writing links and video links of Janet Kuypers from March 21st 2017 (3/21/17, or 20170321), where she performing 2 poetry readings (one of lengthy world-related poems ad one of shorter world-themed poems), as well as a few individual poem readings, in Austin at Half Price Books.
On March 21st, 2017, people got together at Half Price Books in Austin TX for a show to celebrate “World Poetry Day” mini-feature event hosted by Chicago poet Janet Kuypers. During this event, she performed a set of Lengthy World Poems on World Poetry Day, a set of Short World Poems on World Poetry Day, her “erasure poem: Corner Stone Against Slavery” (where shw took a confederate speech and “erased” portions of it to make an anti-slavery poem), and (because other features that day read poems for other poets for World Poetry Day) Kuypers also read the Carolyn Forche prose poem “the Colonel”.
[tubepress mode=’playlist’ playlistValue=’PLYa-AZK78_horq9aqEoMVFI3ZgitkJrmO’ ]
On the same day as the show, she also released two online chapbooks — one of “Lengthy World Poems on World Poetry Day” and one of “Short World Poems on World Poetry Day“. These two chapbooks are the writings she read in two different reading blocks (in the order they were to be performed). She did not distribute copies of this chapbook to the people in the audience of the bookstore, but she made sure the chapbooks “Lengthy World Poems on World Poetry Day” and one of “Short World Poems on World Poetry Day“ were available online on the same day as her reading, so anyone could (and can) download both of the chapbooks “Lengthy World Poems on World Poetry Day” and one of “Short World Poems on World Poetry Day“ as a PDF file for free any time.
Poems included in this performance:
“Freedom just past the Fence”
“My Kind of Town”
“Been a World Leader”
“Enough’s Enough”
“The Little Differences”
an edited “Communication 2012”
“erasure poem: Corner Stone Against Slavery”
“Every Street Corner”
“Our Lady of Mercy”
“shoe prints on the toilet seat”
“unclean left hands”
“Get His Product to Town”
“Ever Consumed Goat”
“Moros y Christianos”
“middle eastern man in front of me”
“Obama on the Subway”
“Poverty in America”
“Flying to China”
“Building Houses out of Pallets”
“Everyone Has a Choice”
Sugar Camp Hollow
by David Jackson
We were raised in Sugar Camp Hollow
on Passenger Creek
where them reb soldiers camped it is
said
and the confederate gold is buried there
or so the story goes
and I knew you there
and you and I both knew
to leave those grounds
where the small creek meets Passenger.
We both knew to leave
those grounds
before dark.
You and I
shared the secrets of Sugar Camp Hollow,
them rebs,
that gold.
The neighbor Simpson
told the tale,
his skinny fingers
waving, pointing to that
spot where the springs
flow to create that
small
creek
that place
where dreams are
formed.
A poem for you
tonight
Sugar Camp Hollow,
Passenger Creek,
them rebs,
that gold,
and I pause beside this spring
of remembrance;
this moment is
a thin stream of water
flowing
from a tiny spring
somewhere
***