The poems posted here have been curated specifically for the website and don’t appear in the poetry anthology. If you’d like to submit a poem about gun violence in America for consideration on this site, please see our submission guidelines in the “Other Voices” drop menu.
by Rachel R. Baum we stand barefoot on Texas soil, branded by tire treads we have license to carry we got taco stands, Buc-ees, oil rigs, guns and ammo we have concealed carry license we drive jacked-up 4 x 4 trucks with rear-racked shotguns we have permitless carry we wear baseball hats, … More We carry
by Cecil Morris In today’s news those three objects shot down still unidentified but (probably) not UFOs from foreign planets trying to slip across our porous border through our thinnest air. We know they were not occupied or weaponized but not what they are (or were before we shot them down to question later out … More Mysteries in the News
by B. Fulton Jennes October 25, 2022 Warning: this poem contains graphic images of gun violence and the names of children and adults shot and killed in the Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Columbine, and Stoneman Douglas mass shootings. Because meat bleeds. Because we all know guns aren’t toys. Because the only difference between men and boys … More WHY I’LL NEVER OWN AN AR-15 EVEN THOUGH MIKE FLYNN’S “ARMY OF GOD” HAS SET ITS SIGHTS ON ME
by Richard Krawiec Somewhere past the middle of the video, 57 minutes in, maybe between bullet 79 and 80, perhaps after the 18th or 19th child screamed its death, the sheriff at the end of the hallway casually crossed to the hand sanitizer, gave it 3 squirts, lathered it around assiduously, long enough to hum … More Pilate at Uvalde
by Deborah Bogen Sorrow-hewed, this box was built to house my sister’s boney limbs–the bones of the box meant to shelter hers, but by and by even boxes decay, so the body that housed her once-hot heart will lay exposed. Returned to clay. The priest spoke words. A cold rain fell. All over the cemetery … More Cemetery
by Kathleen Aguero My grandson plucks a marigold poking through a neighbor’s white fence, crushes it between his fingers while I try to remember if it’s poisonous. Three days later he’s alive, so I cross the marigold off my list of potentially lethal flora toddlers might put in their mouths. So far, he has not … More At Sixteen Months: Brown & Gold
by Lynne Paris-Purtle On his first day of school, my son sat on the bus, his head stretched high, to peer out the grimy window. Around his neck hung a plastic tag with his name and address, but he couldn’t read, so he told the driver over and over who he was and where he … More The Killdeer
by Jen Schneider Fact: noun something known to be true an actual occurrence something with actual existence May 24, 2022 Fact: 27 school shootings this year. To Date 119 school shootings in the U.S. Since 2018 More than 200 mass shootings in the U.S. This Year To Date May 24th is the 144th day … More On Facts, the ABCs, and Lands of the Lost
by Claire Hsu Accomando At the White House briefingon the Corona Virus, the 45thPresident reads from a prepared text.A reporter notices he useda Sharpie pen to blacken “Corona,” and wrote over it“CHINESE Virus.” More than 3,000 hate incidentstarget Asians betweenMarch 16, 2020andMarch 16, 2021. Today on my walk, a cascadeof lavender lanterns dangle—face down—over a … More Black Marker
By M. Padgen-Michna
She drifted on a sea of dreams
wearing a new purple backpack, … More Chicago Stories
Bullets into Bells 