Ivan Jenson - Two Poems

Udder Truth

We feed into the frenzy

of the herd mentality

when we are kids

and our friendships

graze on the “hey” Joe casualness

of our company

and then we slaughter

our bonds over petty

patty-sized disagreements

and then we chew

the cud of estrangement

and we “moo”

as we get milked

by the hands of fate

on the pasteurized pasture

of past and future

and we all have

an expiration date

and on our

carton is

a picture of

the missing

calf-child

we once were

eye’s vacant

in the frigid white coffin

of the fridge.

Whatever, Whenever

Was I brought up

just to be brought down?

Did I go into this world

only to ultimately retreat

into my own head

where I think about

the people

on the small set

of this three-act play

(childhood, adulthood, and

old age)

that ends in

blinds, shades

and curtains

when I will

be born back

to where I came from-

some womb, room,

tomb, and some

will say I was

taken too soon

and others

will say,

"who cares

he is not anyone

anymore, anyhow"?

Ivan Jenson's work has appeared in Word Riot, Zygote in my Coffee, Camroc Press Review, Haggard and Halo, Poetry Super Highway, Mad Swirl, Alternative Reel Poets Corner, 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 now available as a paperback and on Amazon Kindle and Nook.