jon wesick

My Life as a Nudist


I recited poetry unclothed
in your living room
after using the hot tub.
Did you think I’d be embarrassed?
I’m always naked
when I read my poems.

I see the swell of something genuine
underneath your shirt.
Remove your bridal veil.
Slip out of your business outfit.
Shed your low-cut blouse.
Then take off the nudity
you wear like a designer gown.
Fold these garments.
Put them away.
You don’t need them here.

This poem appeared in Jon's self-published chapbook My Father’s Ashes.


Jon Wesick has published over a hundred seventy poems in small press journals such as Pearl, Pudding, Slipstream, Asinine Poetry, Cherry Blossom Review, Edgz, The Magee Park
Anthology, Mannequin Envy, Midway Journal, The New Verse News, Raving Dove, R-KV-R-Y, The San Diego Poetry Annual, Still Crazy, Straylight, Sunken Lines, Tidepools, Urthona and others. His chapbooks have won honorable mentions twice in the San Diego Book Awards. His poem, “Bread and Circuses,” won second place in the 2007 African American Writers and Artists contest.