G. Louis Heath- A Poem

No One Is Killing Anyone

Louis, it’s not easy to kill someone.

I’ve seen a lot of people killing a lot

of people in Vietnam. It looked easy

to me.

In a war, yes.

But unless you’re in a war,

it’s not so easy to kill someone.

In a war, it’s easy.

Everyone is shooting

at everyone else,

so, if your bullet doesn’t happen

to kill anyone, it doesn’t matter.

Someone else’s bullet will.

But killing someone else

in war isn’t murder.

That’s the first thing a soldier learns:

Killing someone in war isn’t murder

because when everyone is killing someone,

then no one is killing anyone.


G. Louis Heath, Ph.D., Berkeley, 1969, teaches at Ashford University, Clinton, Iowa. He enjoys reading his poems at open mics. He often hikes along the Mississippi River, stopping to work on a poem he pulls from his back pocket, weather permitting. His books include Mutiny Does Not Happen Lightly, Long Dark River Casino and Vandals In The Bomb Factory. His most recent poems have been published in Poppy Road Review, Writing Raw, Inkstain Press, Verse-Virtual, and Squawk Back. He can be contacted at gheathorov@gmail.com