TREY RHONE

The Science of War

I learned about Human Anatomy
when I was seven years old. Not
because I wanted to, but because it’s hard
not to notice the bodies strewn all around
the playground. Did you know that the small
intestine is about twenty feet long? Learned that one
when a mortar shell hit the local recreational center.
Gallbladders look like pears if you tilt your head
a bit. I wish for times when I didn’t
know that a human heart was roughly
the size of a fist, or that the eyes and tongues swell
after one passes, but that’s the price of freedom
I suppose. They get pats on their patriotic backs
while us kids are left to play on bloody swing sets
and sandboxes surrounded by the corpses
of soon to be cadavers.

Trey (Tralen) Rhone is an Augusta native who holds a BA from Georgia Southern University and is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Florida International University. He enjoys listening to music, making funeral playlists, and simply existing. Ask him about his funeral playlist. Tweets infrequently at @TreyRho.