A Bloody Questionnaire Poem by Stella Sisanda Qishi

where in your body is your heart located?
is it oval or block-shaped?
does it beat in regular intervals as you decide their fate?
how many will quench your persistant thirst?
tell me ever hungry beast,
do you dream of butterflies and roses at night?
do you dream at all?
have you ever wondered why you, why them?
were you conscripted or did you go at your own will?
what did they drug you with to lose all empathy?
do they applaud you for superbly executed missions?
will they remember you when you're no more?
i wonder.
how do you describe your job to your son?
do you tell him you left another man's child fatherless
and slept with the widow thereafter?
do you feel manly as you sing paeans
of victory at dusk, inebriated?
how exactly will ferocity bring about peace?
in your manual, is it fair killing an unarmed man?
and do you write home telling your significant other
how many you've wasted thus far?

i expect answers when you return
from your bloody missions...
if you ever will