Ivan Jenson

Product Placement


if I were you
I would just do
nothing
and wait for
the light to change
the tide to crash
the morning to come
the recession to end
the mood to pass
the martini and the medication to kick
the psychic’s palm prediction to poof
the mighty cosmos to cosmetically lift the Joan Rivers like face of time
and crack your Da Vinci Code smile and send you
reeling back in time to some soft powdery Johnson & Johnson
moment when Gerber and Big Bird could bring you
unadulterated bliss



Once in a blue moon


pigeons are coming home
runaways call Mom and Dad
roads are leading to rainbows
and windows open to Santa Ana breezes
blowing clean and colorful laundry on a line
as the boy who lost the gal
gets her back
so sunshine washes out the shadows
giving someone a bright idea
which will after many years grow
like cash on branches
and you shrug
reach into a pocket of smiles
and giggle
having just been
toe-tickled
by what is
commonly called
a “Good day”



Trivia Time


I feel like
it’s the last night
of Sylvia Plath’s life
and yet I seek
the strength
it took to write
The Old Man and the Sea
but I am buried
as low as the
Chilean miners
and yes I hurt
like a Brazilian
wax
and understand
that it's not
worth sprinting
in a New York City
marathon
and so I ask
for the
tenaciousness
of the Tea Party
and the
balls of the
GOP
but the truth is
I am as
misunderstood
as two fingers
making
the peace sign
at an Ozzy concert
and seeking
to be legal
like Willie Nelson's
weed
I guess I will
always have
one foot
in the
20th.
and the
other in the
21st.
century
and it is
causing me
to split my pants
like Jackie Chan



Middle Man


Like the stork
you can’t face
stark reality
and like a butter
knife
you don’t cut deep
and like a dad
nobody much
listens to you
but unlike
Michelangelo’s David
you don’t stand
naked for just anyone
and like
a frozen dinner
you are initially
quite stiff
but warm up
quickly

Ivan Jenson

Picky, Picky


You don’t
belong with
your belongings
and you don’t need
your necessities
what you need is
something as impractical
as love at first sight
and as improbable
as a soul-mate
rather than a roommate
and then you can
engage in some
dangerously
impulsive acts
of kindness
and book
a flight to Venice,
Vegas
or a Hyatt
in Honolulu
and though
even Cupid
takes baby steps
you are ready
to make one
giant leap
for woman-kind
to the honeymoon
and back
you want to wake
up to a continental
breakfast of
pancakes and
pursed lips
and you
want to be
treated like china
that just might break
you are
precious and porcelain
so welcome lady,
to the tall skim club
of “chick-lit” longing