Training Manual for the Final Solution
Ordered to shoot, these men will not refuse
To kill a Jew on principle. For them,
Principles are abstract, and too complex,
And if the other men, without sweat
Or friction, do as you’ve instructed, Jews
Can be negotiated: no man wants
To be a coward. Your job is preparation.
Untutored, they will shoot above the neck,
Thinking it more efficient, but it will spray
Splinters of bone and brain in bloody fragments
To sting their eyes, and stain their shirts and skin.
Such things will shake and strengthen in a man
The residue of god he still concedes,
Skinning his nerves with sharpened teeth and claws
Until he vomits black and bile. His will,
Thus deformed, is useless. You should imagine
These young men as young wives, who must be eased
Into their role: the wedding night is not
The place for carnal horrors. If a man
Hangs back and disappears into the forest
Allow it—but announce no policy.
All burden of a choice should be removed.
Meanwhile, instill in them a good technique,
Which must become a blind and boring habit:
The target prone, his face down in the dirt;
Bayonet tip just above the shoulder blades;
And then, as one, deliver the release.
This poem is part of Interviews With Vampires.