“Ode to Ambivalence,” by Jen Ryan Onken (Poetry ’20)

Jen Ryan Onken, a 2020 poetry alum, was recently featured in the LEON Literary Review. Read an excerpt of “Ode to Ambivalence” below:

Ode to Ambivalence

Drop it. Slowly. Let care go
like a dirty hankie. Don’t
pick it up. Who needs chivalry?
They don’t see you: you’ve let
your hair go grey. Who cares?
Lose four committees. Lose raises
after earning your degree. Lose
all sense of ownership over 
the toaster waffles. Rule the house
by order of the tumbleweeds. Grow
accustomed to the truth: people will
do everything better. Feel the dull
scrape of mother over your gluten-free
toast. Ambivalence is a crone’s
disease. The gurgle of despair—
the world, not your oyster, but someone
else’s Dover Sole. Forget about it.

Read this poem in its entirety here: http://leonliteraryreview.com/issue-12-jen-ryan-onken/