Ella Shively

American Soldier Baby

My high school friend has changed
her profile picture. Newborn son, swaddled

in husband’s Army jacket.
Small toes protruding like mushrooms.

Caption: baby Brennan, reporting
for duty! The dog tags chained

across Brennan’s soft belly,
because to wear them around his neck

would be to risk asphyxiation.
I can’t make out the inscription.

I have been considering
having children.

Midday, I walk among flag-draped
headstones out back of the church,

and they, too, are made
illegible by shadow and time.

Ella Shively (Instagram @shivelywrites) is a writer and naturalist from Wisconsin. She is currently working toward her MFA in Poetry at Cornell University. Her writing has been published in RockPaperPoem, Dipity, Bracken, SoFloPoJo, and elsewhere. Ella loves mint chocolate chip ice cream.