New Poems: Ivan Jenson

Human Folly 

 

I overcompensate 

for my inability 

to conform 

or control 

the outcome 

of my income 

and then I overreact 

when time contracts 

and space gives me flack 

for not throwing myself 

into my work 

or for failing 

to play the role 

my soul 

just cannot 

go on faking 

all the while 

making a fuss 

when someone 

throws me under 

the bus in public 

for saying 

what was on

someone else's mind 

guess I'm just a spy 

on my own mind's eye

who will soon be 

made obsolete 

by a bot or AI 

 

 

 

 

 

Fade Out 

 

The ending 

has begun 

the winding down 

of fun in the sun 

the side glances 

from those 

in the throes 

of actual romances 

while the factual 

is all practical 

as you spot 

some random rapture 

while being put 

out to pasture 

all because 

there's no pride 

in lousy posture 

and posterity 

is about all you'll 

get from eternity 

while women 

invent time 

all over again 

with their maternity 

you make 

the grave mistake 

of sleeping 

through your 

very own wake 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Reality 

 

Universe 

is this the best

that you can do?

the grey or blue above 

the oh-so-predictable 

rinse and repeat 

cycles of love 

the wonderful 

or terrible variables 

of the tumble dry 

wrinkle-free cloak 

of these dimensions 

that surround us like

theatre curtains 

opening and closing 

on this three-act play 

where everyone is 

either Hamlet 

or Juliet 

while feeling 

more like Ophelia 

floating on the 

river of ripples 

or tidal waves 

and yet within 

this tsunami 

I continue to create 

the tiny word origami 

made of carefully 

folded words 

simply known 

as poetry 

 

 

 

 

 

Iconic Romantic 

 

I remember 

when the lungs

of laughter 

collapsed 

like a star-struck 

heart broken fan 

of a celebrity 

who was cancelled 

over a scandal 

involving semantics 

and all that frantic 

hullabaloo 

was a helluva 

time for fame 

and fortunately 

I learned to smile 

again without the aid 

of pharmaceuticals 

knowing that depression 

is simply seasonal 

while coincidentally 

I found love 

could be reciprocal 

and no longer 

had the need 

to be cynical 

or down

since a heart's 

pitter pat 

is the cyclical 

pacemaker 

which makes 

the world 

go round 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Bug 

 

 

I'm a grifter 

smitten 

by the spontaneous 

combustion 

of seeing you 

in tight leather 

and your spiked heels 

give me all sorts 

of feels 

because you steal 

every scrap 

of dignity 

from me 

a guy 

who gets by 

like a fly 

on the wall 

whose buzz

is really 

all he's got 

and this unflappable 

energy 

will always be

too fast

to swat 

 

 

 

 

 

Gut Reaction 

 

I often 

second guess 

my first hunch 

while mistrusting 

my intuition 

when I am in 

a compromising 

position or an awkward 

situation where everything 

feels like an imposition 

yet I never let 'em see 

me sweat tears 

nor do I show my years 

instead I play numb 

and cop a plea 

deal with the cards

I'm dealt 

and then I bluff 

in the buff 

while feeling

really round 

like a Mr. Potato 

when the chips 

are down 

Ivan Jenson is a fine artist, novelist and popular contemporary poet who lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

His artwork was featured in Art in America, Art News, and Interview Magazine and has sold at auction at Christie’s. Amongst Ivan’s commissions are the final portrait of the late Malcolm Forbes and a painting titled “Absolut Jenson” for Absolut Vodka’s national ad campaign. His Absolut paintings are in the collection of the Spritmuseum, the museum of spirits in Stockholm, Sweden. Jenson’s painting of the “Marlboro Man” was collected by the Philip Morris corporation. 

His novels, Dead Artist and Seeing Soriah, illustrate the creative, often dramatic lives of artists. Jenson’s poetry is widely published (with over 1000 poems published in the US, UK and Europe) in a variety of literary media. He has published a poetry book, Media Child and Other Poems, and two novels, Marketing Mia and Erotic Rights. 

Mundane Miracles, his critically acclaimed poetry collection, hit number 1 on Amazon in American Poetry.

Ivan Jenson’s website: www.ivanjenson.com
Twitter: @IvanJenson

Featuring Ivan Jenson

Physics for Skeptics 

 

Did anybody just see

me and my epiphany 

just skipping down 

serendipity sidewalk?

And is it coincidence 

or synchronicity 

this deja vu

over somebody 

that just looks like you? 

Because I did 

a doppelganger 

double-take 

and felt like 

the whole matrix 

make-up of my 

material world was fake 

a simulated reality 

contained within 

the blue or red pill

we all must take 

yet, if there were any more 

than three dimensions 

to your beauty

it would only exacerbate 

my hypertension 

and make me worry 

by keeping me 

always hanging 

by a string theory 

and that is far too deep

and I am not willing 

to make that quantum leap 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Now You Tell Me 

 

Now that I am 

out of tokens

and coins of 

fool’s gold 

now that I 

no longer have 

a warm heart

or hands 

or a cup that 

runneth over 

with coffee to hold 

I mean at this 

very moment 

when my clothing 

comfortable yet old

has been ripped from 

my body by the greedy

hands of angels and demons 

all because it is high time for me 

to wash away another decade 

and watch it cascade into 

golden memories 

to savor by some fire 

that heats this haunted house 

full of ghosts that were once

cherished parents or pets 

now that I just dread

the sight of yet another

picturesque sunset 

as they hike the rate 

of my insurance policy 

all I can do is 

accept that even babies 

of the family 

like me

eventually turn sixty 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Boho Honey 

 

I like quirky individuals 

of the female persuasion 

who wear Diane Keaton hats

sport funky boots 

have dimple indentations 

shoulders inked with tats 

and who own 

black cats 

and a vintage vinyl 

record player 

where you can hear

the needle scratch 

I consider them

with their hoop earrings 

and smokey mascara 

to be the best catch 

because they can 

adore Plath 

yet still know 

how to laugh 

at an offhand remark 

and they often

show great originality 

as well as ingenuity 

when we are

naked in the dark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Repeat Customer 

 

Now that we have 

officially slow danced

horizontally and know 

each other fully frontally

physically and intellectually 

you would think 

we would not be blindsided 

by the swift 

mixed martial art’s punch 

of an argument over 

where to go for brunch 

that results in one of us 

huffing and puffing 

and storming out the door 

yet five minutes later 

turning around 

and coming back for more 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Out of the Blue 

 

She was the sort 

of bubbly 

that made minutes

taste like champagne 

and she could turn

an average Sunday

into a snow globe 

in a Jimmy Stewart flick 

and so it was written 

in blessed cursive 

in the sky 

that meeting her 

was like looking

at clouds beyond 

the sparrows 

and seeing an image

of cupid and his arrow 

aimed right at me 

an unsuspecting target 

you know, a single guy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Latin Lover 

 

Like nails scratching 

on a chalkboard 

your words create 

a dissonant chord 

an atonal anomaly 

since most of the time 

you are sweet to me 

now I see your split 

personality 

and to think 

I thought 

being with you 

would be like 

coming in 

from the rain 

now, I see

that happiness 

happens mainly 

in Spain 

Ivan Jenson is a fine artist, novelist and popular contemporary poet. His artwork was featured in Art in America, Art News, and Interview Magazine and has sold at auction at Christie’s. Ivan was commissioned by Absolut Vodka to make a painting titled Absolut Jenson for the brand’s national ad campaign. His Absolut paintings are in the collection of the Spirit Museum, the museum of spirits in Stockholm, Sweden.  
Jenson's painting of the “Marlboro Man” was collected by the Philip Morris corporation. Ivan was commissioned to paint the final portrait of the late Malcolm Forbes.  Ivan has written two novels, Dead Artist and Seeing Soriah, both of which illustrate the creative and often dramatic lives of artists. Jenson's poetry is widely published (with over 600 poems published in the US, UK and Europe) in a variety of literary media. A book of Ivan Jenson's poetry was recently published by Hen House Press titled Media Child and Other Poems, which can be acquired on Amazon. Two novels by Ivan Jenson entitled, Marketing Mia and Erotic Rights have been published hardcover. His website is: http://www.ivanjenson.com

Ivan Jenson’s new psychological thriller The Murderess is now available hardcover and as an eBook on Amazon.