RESPONSE POEMS

There is a long tradition in poetry of poets writing in response to work that has inspired them, borrowing a line from one poem to begin or end a new poem. In this way, poets may re-contextualize a particularly vivid verse while essentially having a conversation with poets they have never met, sometimes reaching across culture, language, and even centuries to connect with those whose work they admire. (Liisa House, Poetry in Voice)

America is a Gun and My Response

America is a Gun

Response to
Brian Bilston’s America is a Gun

by Brian Bilston

England is a cup of tea.
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.

Brazil is football on the sand.
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.

Holland is a wooden shoe.
Hungary, a goulash stew.
Australia, a kangaroo.
America is a gun.

Japan is a thermal spring.
Scotland is a highland fling.
Oh, better to be anything
than America as a gun.

“Bystanders killed by bullets not specifically intended for them have long been a very small part of the homicide problem.”

(Journal of Quantitative Criminology)

by Edward Dzitko

i.
Bystanders have been a small
part of homicide problem;
how dare they keep jumping in
front of those stray bullets.

ii.
America IS a gun.
Three hundred and twenty one
people are shot ev’ry day,
ninety unintentionally.
America IS a gun.

Some are only bystanders;
fathers, mothers, son, daughters,
grandfathers, and grandmothers.
America IS a gun.

Innocents shot while driving,
sitting, standing, and sleeping;
talking, visiting, and walking.
America IS a gun.

Others are shot while shopping,
at the movies, concerts, and
clubs, or while going to school.
America IS a gun.

We do nothing to fix this,
stymied while the next bullet
Flies at the next “untarget.”

iii.
Per one hundred thousand people,
eighteen countries suffer the loss
of half a person to shootings.
Then there's Chile; then there's US.*

*Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation

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