Individuals up to age 42 can now enlist
by NICOLE SHEPERD
My elder millennial group chat,
Sa band of sisters,
bantering about call signs,
our sole purpose: to frag.
She’d go by Hot Mama.
Which is much easier than thinking about the kid
who joked he’d call in telehealth from his barracks
when we discharged him.
I don’t know if he’s okay.
I’m not allowed to ask.
I thought I could dodge the emotional draft
with an empty womb.
My nephews are so small
the foam swords they hold
can’t fight.
Even if I could,
I wouldn’t want it to be for this.
Nicole Shepherd is an Appalachian poet living in Chicago. Her poems appear in Maudlin House, Rust + Moth, Corporeal Lit, Orange Rose Literary Magazine, Free the Verse, Tulipwood Press’s Seedfall, and elsewhere. Find her @tenderpunkconfessional on Instagram.