Enlisted

Contributor: Sarah Henry

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The Army doesn’t want
the short, weak men,
the kind who gun
their motors
to impress the girls.
They fall by the wayside
at a recruiting station.
Tiger Woods had his
eyes fixed with Lasik’s
so he’s dismissed.
Facial tattoos and body
jewelry don’t rate.
The blind, paralyzed,
unhearing, alcoholic,
and those with one foot
toeing in aren’t admitted,
along with twits, jerks,
creeps and traitors,
the abnormal cases.

A normal person is rare
as normal weather,
which happens every
twenty years. Uncle
Sam doesn’t want
a woman like me.
I wrestle with billing
while bringing
up the rear. Uniforms
and camouflage aren’t
the right gear
for a workplace princess.
I fight the office wars.


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Sarah Henry has published in Turtle Island Quarterly, Red Eft Review, Defenestration and journals abroad. She lives and writes without distractions in a small Pennsylvania town.