American Gun
A Communal Poem about Gun Violence in the City
View the Book Trailer and a Performance of the Poem!
American Gun: A Poem by 100 Chicagoans is a collective response to the individual suffering behind the statistics. Big Shoulders Books editor Chris Green asked one-hundred poets from across the city to take turns writing a communal poem about Chicago’s gun violence. The poets range in age, gender, race, ethnicity, and poetic experience. Such well-known poets as Ed Hirsch, Haki Madhubuti, Ed Roberson, Marc Smith, Ana Castillo, and Kevin Coval write with teen poets from the South and West sides . . . many from the group Young Chicago Authors, but also young poets from Chicago’s alternative high schools, where statistically, students experience the most gun violence in the city.
The poem is a pantoum, a poetic form where every line is repeated twice. Green chose this form because its structure of repeating lines mirrors the semi-automatic firing of a weapon and also the seemingly endless cycle of shootings in Chicago.
In 2019, Chicago police seized over 10,000 guns—an average of one gun every 48 minutes, which gives you a sense of how many weapons are on the streets. However, the main title of this poem, American Gun, points to the gun epidemic as not simply a Chicago problem, but an American one. Despite the rhetoric of conservative political and corporate interests, most Americans (including NRA members) want more sensible gun laws. Our country needs more truth, more collaboration—something like this poem where diverse people sing together in sanity and beauty. When politics fails us, poetry tells us we are not alone in our outrage and hope.
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Reviews of American Gun
“Each element in this reverberating communal poem—from the hypnotic repetition of lines to the entwinement of diverse voices to the exquisite corpse construction—creates both pattern and ambush, mirroring the interconnectivity of city lives beneath a façade of divisions and echoing the perpetual shock and horror of gun violence. 100 Chicago poets have built an elegy of rare synergistic and compassionate imagination and profound resonance.”
“American Gun is haunting, filled with a sense of profound loss and formidable hope. I urge you to pick up this poem, and read and read again. It’ll leave you longing for a city that can and should do better by its young people. ”
More about American Gun
WBEZ Chicago’s Reset checked in with editor Chris Green and participating poet Crystal Rudds for more on how the project came together. Listen here.
On Fox 32 News Chicago, Green spoke about American Gun: A Poem by 100 Chicagoans and how readers can get their hands on a free copy of the book, plus info about the pantoum continuation project coming soon. Full interview here.
