"A Cold Coming"

• The poem takes place in the middle of the war. The author uses the word "phial", "bottled," and "test tube" as he is describing what he sees after the Iraqi soldier spoke to him about the Americans sperm banking. He connects war and birth and death by showing the image of this soldier, obviously dying, and allowing his last words to be ones of sperm and birth.
  
• When I first read this poem, I thought that all the references to the Americans sperm banking was was portraying the idea of leaving behind a legacy. I thought the Iraqi was jealous because the Americans could afford and were able to safeguard that they would still be able to have children and give their wives the kids they wanted, even if they died in battle. The poem says, "So if their fate was to be gassed at least they thought their name would last." However, now that we discussed it in class and read the articles on DU, I see how there could be a deeper meaning than that. The Iraqi is not necessarily bitter because he can't ensure that he will still have a child no matter what happens to him, but because this ability to sperm bank, which seems so affordable and easy for these Americans, allows the Americans to always have more children. The Iraqis are losing men and running out of people to fight. The Americans would not have this problem because they can just keep procreating. The soldier says, "On Saddam;s pay we can't afford to get our semen stored" and he goes on to include statistics of how many Iraqis died in comparison to the sperm count in one ejaculation.
• The poet is significant because journalists are supposed to tell the facts. If it were a journalist, he would have had to describe the scene as he saw it and provide factual information. The poet however, is supposed to lie for the soldier. He is supposed to be able to find words that a journalist couldn't in order to describe "this frightening mask." The Iraqi tells the poet "That's your job, poet, to pretend I want my foe to be my friend." He is supposed to show what is not really there and mask the truth.