Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Jessie Epstein

alright, listen up!
something Very Good is coming 
(and it might look Very Bad at first)
and you may not recognize it because 
you have never seen it before!
think of the best bagel you ever—no, that won’t do
imagine—yes!—a perfect kiss, not stolen but
offered without complication (no payback required!)
now add water drunk straight from the garden hose
(can you taste the ground? that part is you)
and also a manual with one page:
“It Is Actually So Simple You Might Not Like It.”
the book might be the worst part,
because you can read the whole thing through
and it only makes sense one out of eight times
and that’s not fair (it is also annoying!)
but you did not write the book
(which is probably why it makes sense)
and you did not know you could be kissed that way
and that water just won’t stop gushing now
(oh God, if you were born in the desert,
how could you know honeycomb from vinegar?) 
do you get my meaning, little sparrow? look up!

---

Jessie Epstein
Writer & Actor

Jessie is a writer and actor based in Los Angeles. Her work has previously appeared in Illinois’s Best Emerging Poets, Having Wings: Poems for Advent, and synchronized-swim.com. For more of her work, visit www.jessiegepstein.com.

Photography by Filipp Romanovski