"They said you are a spear. So I was a spear.
I walked around Iraq upright and tall, but the wind began to blow and I began
to lean. I leaned into a man, who leaned into a child"
In his poem "So I was a Coffin," Mena mixes realism with surrealism to provide a sense of the expectations of warfare. The speaker tells us that he was told to be a "spear," but the realities of warfare caused him to "lean." From there, he "leaned into a man, who leaned into a child," which represents his humanity and vulnerability.
"Bullet makers hang
their heads low when they take home
a peasant's wages."
In this poem, Mena tries his hand at the haiku form. This poem is about bullet makers, and comments on the fact they don't make a lot of money, which Mena emphasizes by using the phrase "peasant's wages."
"Do not let me die
from an incoming mortar round
as I jerk off in the porta-shitter."
In "Hero's Prayer," Mena's speaker is a soldier who wishes that he will die with honor. In this darkly humorous passage, the speaker hopes that he won't die in an undignified way. The fact that he is considering his own death is incredibly dark and shows how difficult the realities of warfare are.
