burial on soldiers & sailors lawn

i sit in damp sun & let her consume
me, allow for my body to be taken

by forces i can’t house. the sun will still 
be here when all i am is ground & so, like 

a deity, i bow to her, spread my
strained legs over sharp grass, lower my back & 

tilt my sour face skyward toward the be- 
coming dawn, toward its golden hue. we are all 

born sulking and blinded by flooding light. 
we persist that way, governed only by the 

truth that it will not last forever. the 
joke is that it happens to everyone, the 

punchline is you never know how soon. i 
will push this vessel that carried me through birth-

day parties and drive-thru lines into the 
bleeding ground. with the sunken earth draped atop, 

i will wither in the sun’s starved mouth, 
sinking into the becoming dawn, into its golden hue.

Anna Sedlak is an emerging writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she is completing her B.S. in psychology and a minor in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She serves as an Editor for the University of Pittsburgh's literary and research journal, Forbes & Fifth. She is a published poet, and her work has been featured in Live Poet Society of New Jersey and Collision. You can find her on Instagram @anna.isabella.