To the Actor Who Plays Me in an Educational Video

It’s important to be
nervous.          Channel uneven
washing machine.       Take advantage
of your props.      Slip an arm
into a sweater sleeve.
Remove your shoes.    Remove
your feet.
Don’t linger over
magazine cover of volcano.    Don’t forget
this is your planet.
Because your time here
is short-lived.     Unravel sweater threads.
Embroider doctor’s coat with jungle cats.
If you wave at the lion            and the lion
doesn’t come,                     remember,
you will fail.       Remember,
your failure will benefit
this unnamed planet,               where, yes,
it’s very hot.            Remove
your sweater.
The oceans boil all the time here.
There are vents           to release the steam
with cameras in them.                         Forget
that you are being
watched.          Forget that you are visible.
Then spill your plans              with shaky hands.
I will now put on my sweater.
Remember
there will be no ransom.         Remember
a rooftop chase is inevitable.

Jennifer Metsker’s poetry collection Hypergraphia and Other Failed Attempts at Paradise is forthcoming from New Issues Press in Fall 2021. Her poetry has appeared in Beloit, Rhino, Birdfeast, Gulf Coast, The Cream City Review and other journals. Her audio poetry won The Third Coast Short Docs Audio Prize and has been featured on the BBC Radio’s Short Cuts. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she is the Writing Coordinator at the Stamps School of Art and Design.