Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
If it cost $10 to kill each enemy
in the Revolutionary War,
If it cost $100 to kill each enemy
in the Civil War,
If it cost $1000 to kill each enemy
in World War 1,
If it cost $10,000 to kill each enemy
in World War 2,
If it cost $100,000 to kill each enemy
in the Korean War,
If it cost $350,000 to kill each enemy
in the Vietnam War,
And if the cost of killing an enemy continues to rise
at the present rate
In 100 years it will cost
10 million dollars to kill each enemy soldier.
But the good news is now gay youths
can wear stunning uniforms
while they learn how to slit throats
of cute enemy recruits from behind.
The bad news is gay soldiers with their jaws shot off
crying like babies in no-man’s land
will never give a blowjob again.
The good news is now gay soldiers can cut off the cocks
of enemy corpses to add to their collection
to show to their straight pals back home.
The bad news is gay soldiers with their rumps shot off
will never feel a lover’s delirious erection
slowly plunge all the way in.
The good news is young gay women
can examine the breasts of corpses
of young enemy women
they ambushed as they slept round their campfire.
The bad news is young gay women with their tongues cut out
because no matter how much they were tortured
they refused to talk
will never lick their girlfriends’ clits all through the night
as if their lives depended on it.
The good news is now young gay women
can teach young gay women
the best way to disembowel an enemy woman with a bayonet.
The bad news is young gay women
whose faces are shot off but are still alive
have to wait at least 10 years for a face transplant.
The good news is it only cost $500,000 to kill
each Iraqi soldier during the Persian Gulf War.
The bad news is if the present rate of increase
of cost of killing an enemy soldier continues
in 1000 years
it will cost a billion dollars
to kill each enemy
for Freedom.
(first appeared in Chiron Review)