Bullets into Bells Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence

A powerful call to end American gun violence from celebrated poets and those most impacted

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, Natalie Diaz, Ocean Vuong, Danez Smith, Brenda Hillman, Natasha Threthewey, Robert Hass, Naomi Shihab Nye, Juan Felipe Herrera, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, and Yusef Komunyakaa.

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 speaks directly to the heart and a persuasive and moving testament to the urgent need for gun control.

Colum McCann is the bestselling author of six novels including the National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin, TransAtlantic, and Thirteen Ways of Looking.

Brian Clements is the author, most recently, of A Book of Common Rituals. He lives in Newtown, Connecticut, where his wife, a teacher, survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Alexandra Teague is the author of two books of poetry—Mortal Geography, winner of the California Book Award for Poetry, and The Wise and Foolish Builders.

Dean Rader is the author of two books of poetry, most recently Self-Portrait as Wikipedia Entry, and editor of 99 Poems for the 99 Percent: An Anthology of Poetry.

Foreword
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords
and Captain Mark Kelly

Introduction: The Velocity of Language
Colum McCann

NICK ARNOLD
Jordan
Response from Lucy McBath

JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA
Morning Shooting
Response from Antonius Wiriadjaja

AZIZA BARNES
I Could Ask, But I Think They Use Tweezers
Response from Judi Richardson

REGINALD DWAYNE BETTS
When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving
Response from Samaria Rice

RICHARD BLANCO
One Pulse—One Poem
Response from Ladd Everitt

TARA BRAY
How My Mother Died
Response from Dennis Henigan

JERICHO BROWN
Bullet Points
Response from Michael Skolnik

BRIAN CLEMENTS
22
Response from Po Kim Murray

BILLY COLLINS
Boy Shooting at a Statue
Response from Nicole Hockley

KYLE DARGAN
Natural Causes
Response from Daniel Webster

JOEL DIAS-PORTER
Wednesday Poem
Response from Kiki Leyba

NATALIE DIAZ
Catching Copper
Response from Rev. Henry Brown

MARK DOTY
In Two Seconds
Response from Pastor Michael McBride

RITA DOVE
Meditation at Fifty Yards, Moving Target
Response from Marie Delus

CORNELIUS EADY
Gun Poem
Response from Ronnie Mosley

MARTÍN ESPADA
Heal the Cracks in the Bell of the World
Response from David and Francine Wheeler

TARFIA FAIZULLAH
Aubade with Lemon and Sage
Response from Sharbari Ahmed

JAMESON FITZPATRICK
A Poem for Pulse
Response from Kevin Hertzog

NICK FLYNN
My Mother Contemplating Her Gun
Response from Ashlyn Melton

REBECCA MORGAN FRANK
Gunning for It
Response from Lt. Brian Thiem

ROSS GAY
The Bullet, in Its Hunger
Response from Dr. William V. Begg III

VANESSA GERMAN
[11 Gunshots]
Response from Camiella Williams

ROBERT HASS
Dancing
Response from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams

JUAN FELIPE HERRERA
Poem by Poem
Response from Rev. Sharon Risher

BOB HICOK
Throwing a Life Line
Response from Colin Goddard

BRENDA HILLMAN
The Family Sells the Family Gun
Response from Jennifer Mascia

JANE HIRSHFIELD
Those Who Cannot Act
Response from US Senator Chris Murphy, Connecticut

LEANNE HOW
Gatorland
Response from Amanda Gailey

MAJOR JACKSON
Ferguson
Response from Amber Goodwin

MICHAEL KLEIN
The Talking Day
Response from Monte Frank

YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA
Shotguns
Response from DeAndra Yates

DANA LEVIN
Instructions for Stopping
Response from Kate Ranta

ADA LIMÓN
The Leash
Response from Caren Teves

DEBRA MARQUART
Kablooey is the Sound You’ll Hear
Response from Jacob and Darchel Mohler

JAMAAL MAY
The Gun Joke
Response from Dan Gross

JILL MCDONOUGH
Afraid
Response from Kim Parker Russell

WAYNE MILLER
Ballad (American, 21st Century)
Response from Lee Keylock

CAROL MUSKE-DUKES
Gun Control: A Triptych
Response from Donna Dees-Thomases

JACK MYERS
In the Dark
Response from Khary Penebaker

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
To Jamyla Bolden of Ferguson, Missouri
Response from Missouri State Rep. Stacey Newman

MATTHEW OLZMANN
Letter Beginning with Two Lines by Czesław Miłosz
Response from Shannon Watts

MEGHAN PRIVITELLO
[When a child hears gunshots]
Response from Abbey Clements

DEAN RADER
Self-Portrait in Charleston, Orlando
Response from Joe Quint

ROGER REEVES
Maggot Therapy
Response from Yvonne Crasso

LIZ ROSENBERG
The First Child Martyr at Illinois Elementary
Response from Patricia Maisch

DANEZ SMITH
the bullet was a girl
Response from Rev. Michael L. Pfleger

PATRICIA SMITH
Undertaker
Response from Pamela Bosley

CHRISTOPHER SOTO
All the Dead Boys Look Like Me
Response from John Grauwiler

TESS TAYLOR
Memory with Handgun and Tetherball
Response from Renan Salgado

ALEXANDRA TEAGUE
Repeater
Response from Iran Nazario

NATASHA TRETHEWEY
Articulation
Response from Eddie Weingart

OCEAN VUONG
Always & Forever
Response from Clai Lasher-Sommers

AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER
Something It’s Taken Thirty Years to Write
Response from Dr. Leana S. Wen

ROBERT WRIGLEY
Kalashnikov Candelabrum
Response from Jessica Pollack Mindich

Our Gratitude

Credits

Contributors