Three Poems by Ivan Jenson

Mass-Market Man

my potential
has just now
been tapped
on its shoulder
by the manicured
fingertips
of opportunity
and so far
lousy luck
has not tripped me
before
I step up
to the podium
and give my
sappy speech
where I thank
the lucky breaks
which stopped
my advance
toward the doom
and the greasy grind
of slinging burgers
under the yellow
arches of mediocrity
brain frozen
from sipping
iced compromise
and all this
bliss is happening
because
I reached inside
to my source
shared it
and discovered
that the interpersonal
hush of
secrets
once revealed
are always universal



Ambulance Chaser

bypass the heart attack
and don't go out
in that broad stroke
of genius
known as
sleeping through
your own death
instead go out
surrounded by
jugglers who go
for your jugular
or go out
on a limb
limber as a gymnast
until the branch
breaks then
fall with the
autumn leaves
and land with a thud
on the auburn crud
or better yet
lose a game
of strip poker
slash
Russian roulette
and die in a
naked
bloody
Pechinpah
pirouette
then writhe
on the floor
only to extinguish
your existential
anguish
with one
silver
bullet more



The Ecstasy of Agony

I am tired of going
the extra smile
and giving two
hundred percent
while the next
guy gets where
I'm trying to go
by the skin
of his generic
genetic attributes
just for once
I would like to have
the asymmetrical
advantage at that
cocktail competition
otherwise known
as happy hour
where the
natural selection
is made
and those
who have inherited
that look of wind
in their hair
go home
flanked by
the checkmate
of femininity
while the rest
of us guys know
too well
you can go home
alone again

Ivan Jenson is a pop artist painter and contemporary poet whose artwork was featured in Art in America, Art News, and Interview Magazine while selling at auction at Christie's.  Jenson was commissioned by Absolut Vodka to make a painting titled "Absolut Jenson" for the brand's national ad campaign, and his "Marlboro Man" was collected by the Philip Morris corporate collection.  Jenson wrote two novels, Dead Artist and Seeing Soriah, both of which illustrate the creative and often dramatic lives of artists.  Jenson turned to poetry as an outlet for artistic expression, and he is now a prolific writer who is widely published (with over 450 poems published in the US, UK and Europe) in a variety of literary media.  Jenson's poems were recently published by Hen House Press in a book titled Media Child and Other Poems, which can be acquired on Amazon.