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Nomi Stone: Wound Kit

June 12, 2014 by PBQ

Simulaids Deluxe Casualty Simulation Kit: $760.00

Stick-on Wounds, Eyeball (900), Foreign body protrusion (901), Eviscerated intestines (902), Large laceration 5 cm (903), Medium laceration 3 cm (904), Small laceration 1 cm (905), Compound fractured tibia (906), Small sepsis wound (909), Large sepsis wound (910), Avulsion 3 x 5 cm (911), Major avulsion 8 x 5 cm (912), Crushed foot (913), 2nd degree burn (914), 1st, 2nd, & 3rd degree burn (827), Small flesh wound (824), Large fracture (830), Jaw Wound (829), Small Fracture (826), Perforated Wound (828), BLEEDING STRAP ON WOUNDS (7) COMPLETE WITH BLOOD RESERVOIR BAGS AND PUMPS, Crushed foot (6730), Impalement lower leg (6729), Broken clavicle (6727), Compound fracture (6761), Laceration of forearm (6726), Projectile Entry (6728)

 

              They paint on the guts. Laith is rib-lean and theatrical. They choose him
frequently to die.

 

              A First Class Private, his braces glinting, kids the group: ‘If he dies I
will dig a shallow grave.’

 

              They position Laith in the grass where he will fall. He fiddles with his cell phone.
It is hot. It is pre-set. His fake wife Nafeesa makes a puking face. Around the field, the
trees sweat.

 

              They choose him because he knows much about real war. In Iraq, he was told to
leave in an hour or be killed. Roulette. Laith asks me: “What do you take? Your laptop?
Your mother?” Then, re-set.

 

              The training soldiers are slow to arrive around Laith’s body. Some of the mock
villagers flick droplets from their water bottles on Laith’s face. Others stand in a circle.
The field sweats.

 

              Nafeesa asks a soldier: “ha yemawt?” [Will he die?]. The soldier can’t understand
he looks panicked thrusts paper and a pencil at her. If she writes it down he can look it
up. We are sweating, and Nafeesa looks stunned: “Turid arsim?” [You want me to draw
it?].

Filed Under: Contributors 89, Issue 89, Poetry, Poetry 89 Tagged With: Contributors 89, Nomi Stone, Poetry, Poetry 89

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