remains

• "on another occasion, we got sent out"

  • opens in media res, confuses the reader but also the soldier who isnt emotionally prepared for war - chaotic
  • "another" this is normal and repetitive for soldiers
  • "sent" wasnt their choice, they were forced
• "well myself and somebody else and somebody else are all of the same mind"

  • "myself" first, taking ownership of what he is doing
  • repetition of "somebody else" show irrelevance of other comerades but their unity in comeradeship
  • unfair power dynamic
• "his blood shadow stays on the street / i walk right over it week after week"

  • "his" not personal, no connection, lack of motive
  • blood stains, just like a shadow he is followed around for his crime"
  • repetition, constantly reminded of what he has done
• colloqialism

  "sort of inside out", "his bloody life in my bloody hands", "tossed his guts"

  show how casual it is for soldiers to see gore and violence
• "possibly armed, probably not"


  repetition trying to convince himself
• context

  armitage was a british war poet, posted poems based the psychological effect and trauma of war, following the war in iraq