Seductive Abduction
Now
that you have me
blindfolded and blind-sided
by your kinky kindness
and all tied up with future plans
while shackled to the
ball and chain of your
free floating flattery
are you going to brainwash me
into being a loving accomplice
like Patty Hearst
or will you send me to
your booty camp
where you will break me
down till I worship
the bed you lie on?
if so, you should know
you can always
undrape the willing
and anyway
you already had me
barbed and wired
captive and captured
at hello
Wood if he Could
He may be
branching out
like an old oak tree
but he is still stuck
in the same place
with deep roots
in the dirt
of despair
but come Spring
he will get rich
with green leafy
dollar bills
of hope
but he always blows them
on the summer wind
and by Autumn
he is barren and broke again
until his kid
climbs up his ample trunk
or uses him to swing
and he feels grateful
that he has not yet been
chopped into chips
and sawdust
by the lumberjack
of time
Private Propaganda
I didn’t
throw anything
away
not even your
misfire of a
manifesto
which proved
way beyond
your
unreasonable
doubts
that it was all
your parents’,
teachers’ and
peers’ fault
but I do hope
now
that you have re-read
your petty, penny
puny thoughts
that your unpublished
poisoned Bic-penned
pontifications
will at last
deservedly
get their due
and enter
the annals
of the
incinerator
Casting Couch Potato
Look
you have to have
the look,
plus talent
and luck
and the right
people behind you
it would not
hurt if you were
18 to 21 years old
and came
from a rich heritage
of fame and fortune
with a last name
that opened doors
and a catchy
first name
that trips easily
on the tongue
and you must
live on the East
or the West Coast
and it would help
if you were fit
and into sports
like winter skiing
or hot yoga
plus you must know how
to carry yourself and
a conversation
but even if you have
a blinding white
smile, and charm school
manners and a body
to kill or die for
there is no
way to get around
sleeping
with someone greasy,
cheesy and sleazy
it you drink too many
Dirty Martinis
in
Tinsel Town
That’s the spirit
From my vintage
vantage point
it seems to me
you are the
co-dependent,
cohabitating
enabler
that has taken
at least 12 steps
forward to fix
all the things
that I don’t think
are even wrong with me
while I just can’t stop
hopelessly hammering
away at the emotional walls
that I put up
and you put up
with
because
you get off on
watching me
detox
from the 90 proof
intoxication
of my
cocksure
cocktail
on the rocks
Honk if you agree
We all try
to get away
with what we can
if that
does not work
we push ourselves
beyond the point
of diminished returns
and just when we
peak boundlessly outside the box
some buddy butts in and makes
us feel like a statue of limitation
so we second guess
our first response
and wind up dropping the ball
which bounces across the street
causing someone
to slam their brakes and skid
making that ear piercing screech
of a dream
detoured
Labor of love
I’m going to make
a heart-shaped
picket sign and put it
on a stick
and pace back and
forth in front of your
building in protest
of the way you
treat the nine P.M.
to five A.M. lovers
who work for
the minimum wage
of your adoring gaze
and who never get
promotions, or time off
from your bossy
nightshift
demands
and then are
laid off
without so much as a
love letter
of recommendation
forcing them
to pound the pavement
in search of
the weekly
emotional paycheck
of love
plus security
Ivan Jenson’s Absolut Jenson painting was featured in Art News, Art in America, and Interview magazine. 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, Underground Voices Magazine, Blazevox, and many other magazines, online and in print. Jenson is also a Contributing Editor for Commonline magazine. Ivan Jenson’s debut novel Dead Artist is available as a paperback and on Amazon Kindle and Nook. His new novel, a psychological thriller entitled Seeing Soriah is now available as an eBook or in Paperback on Amazon. A collection of Ivan Jenson’s drawings and poetry will soon be published by Hen House Press, New York.
