Trench Warfare


Another round litters
The sky
The sounds of bullets
As they hit their mark
Sickening thuds
And plops of useless
Metal sink into the
Disgusting liquid that
Bathes my feet,
Surrounded by dead bodies
Urine and fescues
The smell surrounds me
As the aching in my feet
Increases
The med tent is
Full of brave men
Gone invalid
Trench foot
is inevitable
The all too familiar
Boom resounds
Through the air,
Heating my skin
My arm recoils
The gun fires
Unknowingly, men on
The other side fall
The pain shoots
Through my arm
A hole is made,
Carved by a lethal bullet
Blood runs anew,
It collects at the bottom
Of this pit
“War is hell” a slogan
Well put echoes through
The ranks a chorus
Sung as I’m carried
To the temporary hospital,
Amputation a word every
Good soldier
is afraid
To hear
“Kill me” the words
Fall like the rain
Outside
A brave facade
Shatters as
My life doesn’t
Fade
There is no heaven
Or hell
For a soldier
I am told,
It doesn’t matter now
That I am a vegetable
War truly is
Hell
~Kaitlin Platti~