The Emissary

The Emissary

Ben Egerton

Somehow, in all the kerfuffle at the checkpoint
I shot the messenger. Twitchy trigger finger…

jumpy youngster… heat… nerves… sun-blinded—buried
details will one day surface—small entry

through the right temple, exit wound below the left.
I heard no call of name, rank, or number.

As the report will note going to his pocket
for ID was what did for him… should have

shouted from further off… should have
warned them of his approach… Dumbstruck

on the road, haloed by his own blood, words
of surrender forever on the tip of his tongue.

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Ben Egerton
Poet & Educator

Ben is a poet and lecturer from Wellington, New Zealand, where he teaches in the School of Education at Victoria University or Wellington. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the same university. Ben is the author of two collections of poetry: a is to b as c is to d (17 Tory, 2014) and The Seed Drill (Kelsay, 2023).

 Photography by Parrish Freeman