Red Balloons
by Adam Jahr

Female genitalia
battleground of war
in the Dem Rep of Congo

A Congolese woman screams
husband hacked in three
head     torso    legs

she faints
three men
take turns pumping
until she’s HIV+

she awakens next to severed legs
crawls to Panzi Hospital

Dr. Mukwege examines
her vaginal remains
now only a mess
mutilated by machete and rifle
she no longer has a bladder
urine spills onto mattress
onto floor

flows toward beds of prisoners of war
women used as sex slaves
gang-raped for years

feet stomped on their bloated bellies
until they aborted into bowls
were forced to eat the red chunky soup

Women of war lie in Panzi beds
age 3 to 75
clinging to off-white sheets
and inflated hopes
that slip out
and float
to the sky
like red balloons