Too Many Words

too many words cross the boulevard
without looking both ways. too many words
enter the recruiting station with
empty hands and come out carrying a gun.
too many words leave their sons and
daughters behind or their parents
or their wives or husbands.
too many words
sit in front of a television screen
watching the twentyfour hour news for
twentyfour hours. too many words stuff a duffel bag
with fists of sand. too many words go blind.
too many words come home without
their legs on, without their helmets
on, come home without their
buddies or their minds.
too many words stay at home
and write about things they don’t understand.
too many words die crossing a desert
that never asked to be crossed.