Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence

by Brian Clements (Editor), Alexandra Teague (Editor), Dean Rader (Editor)

A powerful call to end American gun violence from celebrated poets and those most impacted, including a foreword by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly and an introduction by Colum McCann, published on the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Focused intensively on the crisis of gun violence in America, this volume brings together poems by dozens of our best-known poets, including Billy Collins, Patricia Smith, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Natalie Diaz, Martin Espada, Robert Hass, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ocean Vuong, Danez Smith, Brenda Hillman, Natasha Threthewey and Juan Felipe Herrera.

Each poem is followed by a response from a gun violence prevention activist, political figure, survivor, or concerned individual, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams, Senator Christopher Murphy, Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts, survivors of the Columbine, Sandy Hook, Charleston Emmanuel AME, and Virginia Tech shootings, and Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir, and Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis.

The result is a stunning collection of poems and prose that speak directly to the heart; a persuasive and moving testament to the urgent need for gun control.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Essays, Anthologies, Politics, Social Issues

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2017

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘the bullet, like you, simply craves
the warmth of the body. Like you, only wants
to die in someone’s arms.’
-Ross Gay, from The Bullet, in Its Hunger

This is a book I’ve had to pull down from my shelf far too often, such as on weeks like this one when I need the words of some favorite poets processing grief after another horrific national incident of violence. I first picked up Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence when it came out in 2017 and have had far too many times when it was needed, my copy now as beat up looking as I feel inside when reading it, with multiple dog-ears, underlinings and scuffs. It saddens me to think how many times I may still have to take it down off the shelf...

The aim of the collection is pretty self explanatory and contains a multitude of moving works from many well-known poets (many of my favorites, too) such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Jane Hirshfield, Ocean Vuong, Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, Yusef Komunyakaa, Juan Felipe Herrera and more. Between each poem is a brief essay addressing the poem and the ideas behind them, the grief and the activism, by a survivors, activists and political figures, bringing the voice of those who lived through Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and others into the poetic conversation. This is a powerful collection, and one I wish were not so necessary, but it is a great touchstone for moments of grief and frustration as well as inspiration and hope in dark times.

‘Paradise is a world where everything is sanctuary and nothing is a gun.’
-Danez Smith

Collected here are poems for the victims of Pulse, the too-many school shootings, the far-too-often violence in homes and communities. In Bullet Points , Jericho Brown delivers a stunning and strong anger against police violence ending in:
‘I promise if you hear
Of me dead anywhere near
A cop, then that cop killed me. He took
Me from us and left my body, which is,
No matter what we've been taught,
Greater than the settlement
A city can pay a mother to stop crying,
And more beautiful than the new bullet
Fished from the folds of my brain.’

There are poems in memory of Tamir Rice with a follow-up essay from his mother. There is survivor after survivor after poet and poet after survivor begging us to build a better world, a safer world, a world where we dont have, as in Matthew Olzmann’s poem Letter Beginning With Two Lines by Czeslaw Milosz , most students in a classroom having their lives been touched by gun violence in some way (the poem is so good I’ll write it in full at the end).

The Gun Joke - Jamaal May
It’s funny, she says, how many people are shocked
by this shooting and the next and next and the next.
She doesn’t mean funny as in funny, but funny
as in blood soup tastes funny when you stir in soil.
Stop me if you haven’t heard this one:
A young man/old man/teenage boy walks into
an office/theater/daycare/club and empties
a magazine into a crowd of strangers/family/students.

Ever hear the one about the shotgun? What do you call it
when a shotgun tests a liquor store’s bulletproof glass?
What’s the difference between a teenager
with hands in the air and a paper target charging at a cop?
What do you call it when a man sets his own house on fire,
takes up a sniper position, and waits for firefighters?

Stop me if you haven’t heard this one:
The first man to pull a gun on me said it was only a joke,
but never so much as smiled. The second said
this is definitely not a joke, and then his laughter crackled
through me like electrostatic—funny how that works.
When she says it’s funny she means funny
as in crazy and crazy as in this shouldn’t happen.
This shouldn’t happen as in something is off. Funny as in
off—as in, ever since a small caliber bullet chipped his spine,
your small friend walks kinda’ funny and his smile is off.

Algerian poet and journalist Tahar Djaout once wrote ‘If you speak, you die. If you keep quiet, you die. So, speak and die.’ Shortly after he was gunned down in the streets, his killers said they wanted to silence him, as Colum McCann tells us in his introduction to the collection. This recalls Audre Lorde’s poem A Litany for Survival (not included here) where she writes:
‘when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.’

These are poems about speaking up and speaking out. There are calls for change and calls to put your voice in the face of every politician you can. In his poem for the nine children murdered at church in Charleston, NC in 2015, Juan Felipe Herrera hopes that ‘poem by poem / we can end the violence.’ Let’s hope that can be true.


Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz - Matthew Olzmann

You whom I could not save,
Listen to me.

Can we agree Kevlar
backpacks shouldn’t be needed

for children walking to school?
Those same children

also shouldn’t require a suit
of armor when standing

on their front lawns, or snipers
to watch their backs

as they eat at McDonalds.
They shouldn’t have to stop

to consider the speed
of a bullet or how it might

reshape their bodies. But
one winter, back in Detroit,

I had one student
who opened a door and died.

It was the front
door to his house, but

it could have been any door,
and the bullet could have written

any name. The shooter
was thirteen years old

and was aiming
at someone else. But

a bullet doesn’t care
about “aim,” it doesn't

distinguish between
the innocent and the innocent,

and how was the bullet
supposed to know this

child would open the door
at the exact wrong moment

because his friend
was outside and screaming

for help. Did I say
I had “one” student who

opened a door and died?
That’s wrong.

There were many.
The classroom of grief

had far more seats
than the classroom for math

though every student
in the classroom for math

could count the names
of the dead.

A kid opens a door. The bullet
couldn’t possibly know,

nor could the gun, because
“guns don't kill people,” they don't

have minds to decide
such things, they don’t choose

or have a conscience,
and when a man doesn’t

have a conscience, we call him
a psychopath. This is how

we know what type of assault rifle
a man can be,

and how we discover
the hell that thrums inside

each of them. Today,
there’s another

shooting with dead
kids everywhere. It was a school,

a movie theater, a parking lot.
The world

is full of doors.
And you, whom I cannot save,

you may open a door

and enter a meadow, or a eulogy.
And if the latter, you will be

mourned, then buried
in rhetoric.

There will be
monuments of legislation,

little flowers made
from red tape.

What should we do? we’ll ask
again. The earth will close

like a door above you.
What should we do?

And that click you hear?
That’s just our voices,

the deadbolt of discourse
sliding into place.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this poetry book through a Goodreads giveaway. It is incredibly relevant to the U.S. today, especially as the poems describe many of events related to gun violence. The poems support the need for more gun regulation. Worth the read!

[Arantzazú · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit.

Read this.

[John Morn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poets (including some of our most celebrated) have written poems about gun violence. Each poem is followed by a response from someone who has suffered from gun violence. Lots of great writing here. The responses are often as powerful as the poems.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly powerful and moving collection of poems that is both emotionally difficult to read yet vitally important, especially given the national dialogue about gun violence. These are the heartbreakingly strong voices of gun violence survivors, parents of the first graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, friends of victims, concerned citizens and others. These pieces memorialize the tragedies and the names that have garnered national headlines as well as incidents known only to those who lived them.

Bullets Into Bells is organized as a call and response -- for each poem, there is a brief response from someone with some connection to the incident or person who is remembered or honored through these verses. This structure gives each piece additional context, resonance and depth. Gabby Giffords, Mark Kelly and Colum McCann write the forward and introduction, respectively.

Highly recommended. These are voices we must listen to.

[Milda · Rating 5 out of 5]

No bullet will outlast the speed and velocity of language.
***
A powerful call to end American gun violence.
Holy shit. These poems are way too difficult and they will hit you hard. I have not read anything like this. It is hard to find words to describe this book but please read this book and recommend it to everyone you know.

[Amy Nawrocki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional anthology. Please read these bold poems about gun violence and think. Respond as many others do. Feel, Fight Write.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really think you should read this, if not for the poetry than for the commentary after each poem.

[LAPL Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through poetry and prose, parents, poets, politicians, social and political activists, and survivors of indiscriminate individual and mass shootings, express their thoughts and feelings about gun violence in the United States. The writing is presented in a call and response format: first a poem and then a prose commentary. In the introduction, novelist Colum McCann states why poetry is a good place to begin, "The poems assert the possibility of language rather than bullets to open our veins.” He emphasizes why discussion is invaluable by quoting the Algerian poet and journalist Tahar Djaout, who was killed in Algiers in 1993 for writing and speaking about progress, secularism and support of open-minded thoughts and ideas, “If you speak, you die. If you keep quiet, you die. So, speak and die." McCann reminds us that no one wants to die, but it is better to have a conversation about unacceptable acts of violence than ignore them. If one man, Tahar Djaout, was willing to risk his life by writing about freedom of expression, then it is important to continue our discussion about ending gratuitous killings caused by gun violence in the United States.

With comments from people who have lost family and friends, the book opens up the conversation about the ongoing grief, pain and anger caused by both random and deliberate gun assaults. The collection was not intended as a polemic, with good or bad guys or good or bad guns, but as guidance in begining and continuing a very difficult exchange of thoughts and feelings.

In the foreword to the poems and prose, former Congresswoman Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords, a victim of gun violence, and her husband, Captain Mark Kelly, present a definitive statement about their commitment to ending gun violence.

Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Central Library

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it for it's advocacy, read it for the sheer talent of the writing, but read it. This book will change you to a depth you may not have thought possible. You may think I exaggerate, but I do not. Profound and moving in a way that leads to a passion to protect our friends, family and all those who are victims of this hateful violence. I am moved, grateful and angry.

[RACHEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry can speak truth in powerful ways and this collection does. These poems and responses speak to many ways that gun violence impact lives. Join the conversation.

My copy was a gift through Goodreads First.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One poem states that poetry doesn’t make good legislation. I think we need more poetry to bring heart and empathy to bear on legislation.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume is one that took me days to read. The sheer weight of the words, the issues and the pain were raw and humbling. There is a response from an activitist or parent after each poem, which lended to the solemnity of the entire collection.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this. And then give a copy to everyone you know.

[Richard Jespers · Rating 5 out of 5]

There would nothing wrong with presenting a book-length collection of anti-gun poetry by itself, but Bullets into Bells increases its power by pairing each poem with a response written by a person who has been deeply affected by such violence. Note the eloquence of these lines from “Heal the Cracks in the Bell of the World,” by poet, Martín Espada.

Now the bells speak with their tongues of bronze.
Now the bells open their mouths of bronze to say:
Listen to the bells a world away. Listen to the bell in the ruins
of a city where children gathered copper shells like beach glass,
and the copper boiled in the foundry, and the bell born
in the foundry says: I was born of bullets, but now I sing
of a world where bullets melt into bells. Listen to the bell
in a city where cannons from the armies of the Great War
sank into molten metal bubbling like a vat of chocolate,
and the many mouths that once spoke the tongue of smoke
form the one mouth of a bell that says: I was born of cannons,
but now I sing of a world where cannons melt into bells (53-4).

Or feel the biting irony of this response by Dan Gross to “The Gun Joke” by Jamaal May.

I’ve got another one:
A Republican hunter who loves guns and a Democrat city slicker who doesn’t are sitting at the local watering hole somewhere in rural America. The bartender, with a warped sense of humor, brings up “gun control” and sits back to watch the sparks fly—and initially they do. Then, as the two get to talking, they realize they actually agree much more than they disagree, especially about expanding Brady background checks to keep guns out of the hands of people they both agree shouldn’t have them, like criminals, domestic abusers, people who are dangerously mentally ill, and terrorists. Then a Congressperson walks into the bar, and the two citizens excitedly share their breakthrough, “Hey, Congressman, guess what! Turns out we’ve found a solution to gun violence that everyone agrees on and will save lives!” The Congressman responds, “Sorry guys, doesn’t matter. The gun industry is paying my tab.”
OK, so this one’s not funny either. But you know what would at least be fun? Imagine if we could write a new ending where the Republican and the Democrat get outraged, decide to say #ENOUGH and to hold this Congressman accountable for placing the interests of the gun industry ahead of our safety. Then, in two years, that Congressman is out of a job and needs to buy his own drinks. That’s the kind of real change that we all can make through our activism (116).

There are too many fine poems and too many strong responses to them to list here. Just buy the book and READ them for yourselves. Words alone may not solve this problem of gun violence but they can certainly articulate its many problems.

[Brandon Amico · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-curated group of devastating poems that flash in turns of rage, hope, despair, and determination in regards to our epidemic of gun violence in America. The decision to have a non-poet, but someone whose life has been altered by gun violence or who is either a civil servant or works for an organization dedicated to stemming the tides of such violence, react to each poem was a brilliant idea. These response bring an immediacy to these poems (as if they weren't already immediate) that is enhanced by voices so close to the subject, and allow for new perspectives into the topic.

The poems are terrific and represent a diverse group of writers, styles, tones, and feelings. A great anthology.

[Jonathan Tennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about this book from a recent article and regardless of where you sit on the gun control debate, this is an incredibly well put together collection of writings and responses detailing the matter.

“I don’t want sympathy and I don’t want affection / I want this country to head in the right direction / Instead of discussin who the Grammys should be awardin / Work to prevent murders like those of my cousin, Jordan” – p. 1 (from Jordan by Nick Arnold)

“And when a child is asked what they want to be when they grow up, their answer is simply, “Alive.” The other abortion that is set up to kill you and then call it suicide.” – p. 148 (Response to “the bullet was a girl” from The Reverend Michael L. Pfleger)

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be read in small doses. It's a bit much to be trying to read this in one setting.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection kept coming up in my feed, and I enjoy and respect many of the poets in this collection, so I decided to get my own copy.

Not just a collection of poetry about gun violence, but also some micro-essay responses by victims of gun violence. The essays are precisely the right length for a poetry collection, in that none of them stretch beyond a page.

Like the poems, some of the essays are of varying qualities. Some preachy and self-indulgent, and some of them cringe-inducing and poorly conceived. But most of the poems, and most of the essays are fantastic, and the book is well worth the read.

If you're familiar with poetry, I'd flip through the table of contents, and find one of your favorite poets, and start reading there.

If you're not a regular reader of poetry, I'd recommend starting with Patricia Smith's "Undertaker", Ocean Vuong's "Always & Forever", or Martín Espada's "Heal The Cracks In The Bell Of The World", and flip around at random.

I imagine it was extremely difficult, from an editorial standpoint, to put this book together. And while putting it in alphabetical author seems fair to the authors, and an easy way to navigate the book, I found that the first two poems are poor indicators of the high quality of much of the writing in this book, and I almost put it down without buying it, which I would have regretted.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 2017, this book pre-dates half a dozen more incidents of gun violence on a mass scale across the country that underline its importance. This is a collection of new or relevant poems that cover all facets of gun violence from the perpetrator to the victim to those left behind to mourn or try to make sense of the tragedy. Each poem has a personal reflective response from someone whose life has been impacted by gun violence, "a call-and-response format, a church of the possible."It is an impressive collection of literature, but also dedicated people who want to see a better side of America and ensure safety of all its citizens. Though it leans left due to the sheer number of tragedies, there is representation of gun rights advocates and more importantly the call for common ground. How do we balance our freedom from the 2nd Amendment with responsible citizenship? No easy answers, but an important dialogue and a profound inquiry that shows the power of words and experience. "What poetry can do is untangle some of the 'facts' and reveal the human tissue underneath." says Colum McCann in his forward.

[Nikki Clementi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s hell-in order not to be scared you have to not be afraid to die.”

“Where did these children get these guns?”

“I spent thirty years in law enforcement…hundreds of murder victims lying dead in streets, cars, homes, and city parks.”

“The boy only had his hand for a gun,
But as he ran, head down,
He would lift a finger to the statue
Pulling an imaginary trigger
As he imitated the sounds of rapid fire”

This was a great and haunting collection of poems about gun violence from different perspectives. The beginning of the book briefly touches on how people who are for guns and people who are against guns want the same thing and it’s something about getting to that middle ground and communication and stuff, just really briefly about that. It was helpful that each poem had a little paragraph/thought/words talking about it and highlighted the poem’s background, something about the author or victim(s), or extra information.

Very sad and very eye opening-definitely an important read for a slightly deeper human view into this topic!

[Mary Vermillion · Rating 5 out of 5]

I plan to use parts of this anthology in my first-year course Writing and Social Issues. But I must say that the collection prompts mixed feelings for me. On one hand, I feel hopeful that so many poets and activists are resisting gun violence. On the other, I'm dismayed that the violence seems to be increasing despite their efforts.

On the first day of my writing course, my students asked a question about a different social issue: When everyone can see it's a huge problem, why aren't we doing more to fix it? My course will show them that many people are already working to solve the world's problems and injustices. But why these solutions aren't enough? Off the top of my head, my responses are all deeply cynical. I hope my students and I can find answers that will also offer a productive and hopeful way forward. All suggestions most welcome!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had this book since April 20, 2018 when I bought it from Alexandra Teague at a poetry reading at my university. It has been one of those books that I felt I needed to read, but always seemed to choose something else instead. I am participating in the Sealey Challenge this year, and my first book happened to be Nicole Sealey's "The Ferguson Report: An Erasure." This felt like a logical next choice. Many of the poems are in response to shootings we have all heard about in the news, but others deal with domestic violence and suicide. I really appreciated that each poem is followed by the response of someone personally marred by gun violence. This was a provocative read. I should have done it sooner.

[Samantha Kolber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read! This book is the most thoughtful, intentional anthology on the market today. Each contributor nails the message - a personal cry on gun violence. Have tissues handy and be ready to be moved.

Event plug: Bear Pond Books presents a reading Friday, Nov. 2 at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier, Vt., with poets Major Jackson, Brian Clements, Matthew Olzmann, and Kerrin McCadden, and survivors Abbey Clements, GunSens VT Executive Director Clai Lasher-Sommers, and a representative of Moms Demand Action. Tickets $5 and support GunSense VT. More at https://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/b...

[Jerome Maida · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book of poems on gun violence. What keeps this from being great is 95% of the poems are ant-gun and many go into tired tropes about racism. This is especially disappointing, since the book is billed as just dealing with all the aspects of violence. it further undermines it's supposed mission by having ant-gun zealots like Shannon watts TELL you what each poem means to them - thus reinforcing that you are being told what to think - rather than letting the reader interpret the poems on their own

[Jane Cleland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never before or after read a poem that touched me with such visceral force as Brian Clements’ “22.” From Dr. Clements’ blog: “In December 2012, Brian’s wife [Abbey] worked as a teacher at Sandy Hook School–which his son, Jacob, and his daughter, Sarah, both attended–where twenty children and six educators were murdered by an unstable individual with access to massive weaponry... To those ends, Brian collaborated [to create this anthology]...” I reread “22” periodically, and I always have the same reaction: awe, astonishment, amazement.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of poems on gun violence includes poem interpretation and commentary meant to make the case for gun control in America. While not everyone will agree with the premises presented, the book provides another avenue to open discussion on what drives the want for control or no control of weapons.

I was randomly chosen to receive this book. I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Tom Romig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving and timely collection of poems relating to gun violence and its devastating consequences. Often more striking than the poems themselves are the comments that follow every poem. These comments, most written by people who have lost loved ones to the carnage, describe not only staggering pain and emptiness but also the steely resolve to work for change.

[Maryann Gestwicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What poetry can do is untangle some of the facts and reveal the human tissue underneath." I love this quote in the book.

Each poem is deep, meaningful in its own way. Full of spirit and life with a heart full of sadness and pain including sad events and moments that replay on our minds. I liked all the poems.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book went back and forth between poems and responses about gun violence in the United States. It was moving and thought provoking. It is hard to comprehend the number of people effected by gun violence.