Remains is a poem from a collection called " the not dead " . It is a book of accounts of surviving soldiers stories turned into poems .
The narrator is a machine gun operator in the Iraq war
the soldier in remains was so scared by the incident he cried and used substances to cope
the poem begins in media res , showing the lack of ease the soldiers felt. A sever lack of preparation
In the beginning of the poem the narrator wants to make it extremely clear that he alone killed the man , but a heard mentality of some sorts. the repetition of " all " as well as " somebody else " shows he wants to distance himself as much as possible
At the end of the poem the narrator he is alone and he accepts his part in killing the man with use of " my "
Enjambment ( where sentences flow over on to separate lines ) is used to show the life changing moment where the soldier shot the looter " ... fly , and I swear / I see every round as it rips through him . This is further emphasised by the stanza break causing the reader to pause and think . from this point on he is broken just like the line .
he thinks that home would be safe but he is finds a tormenting warzone under his pillow
" then I'm home on leave . " this caesura creates a sense of finality but he is still haunted .
the difference in " probably armed " in stanza one compared to " possibly armed " in stanza five shows regret and doubt, gives the poem a cyclical structure returning the reader back where it all started allowing him to be tormented again and again.
Remains litteraly means, what is left of parts that have been used , this is a metaphor for the solider because he is the remains of what was once a fully functioning human now reduced to almost a child really this is further pushed by the use of infatile language .