Dual Purpose
You think you
know me better
than I know my shelf
of self-help books
and you have already
checked out
my waist
and hairline
and wallet size
and have me
all sized up
like a shoe salesman
but I have come
to show you that
there are schools
of swimming wishes
under the rippling
surface of things
and I have also
come to buy
a pair of Nikes
Don’t look up
today
I check off
each thing that needs
to be done
and I draw
a circle around
what is most
important
later I am going
to write the words
job well done
and underline them two times
pat myself on the back
and give my self kudos
for not dwelling on
my Chicken Little thoughts
which chirp, “This guy is falling”
The Cycle
Never have been
a morning person
and my mood drops low
at high noon
have yet to experience
one enchanted evening
that didn’t become pitch black at midnight
when I am force-fed dreams
and spoon-fed nightmares
then I am alarmed to discover
I am a born again non-believer
who must go through the motion
sickness that is
well…
being alive
Sensual harassment
Taken out of
context
it might seem that
I was throwing
stones at your
sinfully delicious
qualities
the ones you
use to seduce
so successfully
everything that you
want out of
me or anybody
else
but what I
really meant to
give you was
an underhand compliment
and a ten percent tip
and thank you
for being my server
and for wearing that
low cut blouse
at this family restaurant
Rocky’s Horror
He claims he
was blonde-sighted
as he changed lanes
under the red light
unaware, until
it was too late
that he had
not rear ended
a Model T and A
but rather
this was
a real
gender bender
at the intersection
of Transsexual
and Transylvania
Underneath it all
Having dabbled
in various identities
I have finally settled
on the mask that is me
and the costume that is my attire
as I knock on doors and get tricked
or treated the way I deserve to be
by hook nosed witches or
fairy princesses, who like
me, just wish to take off
these itchy outfits
and sleep in
birthday
suits
—-
Ivan Jenson’s Absolut Jenson painting was featured in Art News, Art in America, and Interview magazine and his art has sold at Christie’s, New York. His poems have appeared in Word Riot, Zygote in my Coffee, Camroc Press Review, Haggard and Halo, Poetry Super Highway, Mad Swirl, Alternative Reel Poets Corner, Underground Voices Magazine, Blazevox, and many other magazines, online and in print. Ivan Jenson’s novel Dead Artist has been published as a paperback and as an eBook for the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook.
