Brave soldier, perpetual myth:
The sacrifice slaughtered on
politician altars and citizens
needing a quick idol. “Look
how much better—look
how much worse—” You,
soldier martyr and Saint
Patriot, named but by your
nation and known but by your
cliché: You journey forth bold
and confident (how else would
you go?), and die a death
cinematically heroic. Fears
dismissed, doubts diminished—
And have I said it yet?
Thank you for dying.
Thank you for dying.
Have you heard about the Xbox?
Thank you for dying.
Thank you for dying.
Take it on assurance, this
is how you wanted it—death
made meaningful in strangers’
memories (and maybe it’s
true, maybe we do preserve
you in fleeting thoughts meshed
between “I’m hungry” and “hey,
there’s McDonald’s”). But
when “sacrifice” is pandered
beside “LOL” and “like” and the next
Big Issue, does the word not
lose its value? Cheap and rendered
meaningless in repetition—And have I
mentioned you must be handsome,
strong, and honorable; what other
kind of soldier is there? And maybe
you are that way, maybe—
You are that soldier’s ancestor, the one
who talked the woman and kids trapped
in their house through eight hours of Taliban
shooting, the soldier who would not
let her hang up and face it
alone. But maybe you weren’t, maybe—
you are more like those who say
they would shoot any Afghan;
who cares if she’s pregnant?
Maybe you swear and drink
and women fight instead of fancy
you. Is it blasphemy to say:
One does not become a hero
simply by having died?
Unknown but claimed by everyone,
you’ve lost your identity, sir,
it belongs to us, sir, to make
not into a mirror
but a manipulation. You
are mine to say “noble.” You
are mine to say “tool.” You
are mine to say “hero.” You
are mine to say “waste.” You
have no voice. You
have no memory. You
are mine to make a myth.

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