Charles Jensen

Why Does the First Man I Ever Kissed Keep Visiting My LinkedIn Profile

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after Elizabeth Bishop

Perhaps he’s considered
adding a reference: Soft lips.
Leans to the right.
Tongue was
larger than expected.
What a compliment
to be remembered.
I was eighteen. I wanted
to learn the secret
of men’s bodies
but refused to give up
my own (body and secrets).
I was a (Write it!) a disaster.
Perhaps the bruise never healed.
The sound of my name
like the crack of a gun.
The past grips truth so tight
it suffocates faster
than my resumé loads.

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Charles Jensen (he/him) wrote Splice of Life: A Memoir in 13 Film Genres. His most recent collection of poetry is Instructions between Takeoff and Landing. His previous books include two collections of poetry and seven chapbooks of cross-genre work. The City of Los Angeles designated him a 2019-2020 Cultural Trailblazer. Distinctions include the 2020 Outwrite Nonfiction Chapbook Award, 2018 Zócalo Poetry Prize, a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize, the 2007 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Award, and an Artist’s Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, American Poetry Review, New England Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Long Beach.