War Poetry

A Soldier's Thoughts Before Breakfast

You weren’t the first,
God knows you weren’t the last

Of all the others,
Your mark stays with me

It was the shot,
I never should’ve taken

And every morning since,
It’s your eyes I see

The death of you,
Has become the life of me.

by Sean Barnett

Enlistment

I did it because I was a horrible student. I—
Did it for the money. I—
or maybe it was so you wouldn’t have to. I—
did it because I lived in an ’89 Suburban
Parked in the alley behind a buddy’s house,
Where I bathed in their pool and
drank keystones in the moonlight. I—
did it because I-
didn't know what else to do.

by Sean Barnett