PEA Students Recite Poetry on Gun Violence

Snaps echoed throughout the Lamont Gallery as students, illuminated in a spotlight and surrounded by peers and faculty, recited poetry addressing gun violence. Hosted in the American Mortal exhibit, the event spurred reflection on domestic and international fire weaponry.

The poetry reading, inspired by the poetry book Bullets Into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence, featured 25 lowers from English Instructor Mercedes Carbonell’s classes and seven upperclassmen from other classes.

The performance was a product of a collaboration between Carbonell and Lamont Gallery Director and Curator Lauren O’Neal to “bring more arts into the community in a more spontaneous way.” Additionally, Carbonell had hoped “to bring social justice into the classroom more intentionally.”

After a fraught summer of “too many mass shootings” including White Swan, St. Louis County, Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton, Carbonell decided to teach Bullets Into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence for the second time. From past experiences, Carbonell was reminded of gun violence and its consequences.

“I had entered into conversations with friends and family as we remembered those we knew who had been affected by gun violence: my grandmother’s neighbor, my grandmother who wore a ‘Ban Hand Guns’ pin on every jacket she ever owned, a father in my hometown who killed his children, his wife and himself, my field hockey/lacrosse teammate and art friend in high-school who took her life; after Orlando, the active shooter training I went through as one of the organizers for Portsmouth Pride, the lives of too many black and brown and queer people I never knew and how those killings were affecting the people I teach with, work with and love,” Carbonell said.

After these conversations, the reading, spoken word and art addressed “America in pain” and the pain abroad, according to Carbonell. “I would like to see us extend the conversation beyond the domestic, yet America has a distinct crisis to face or rather a series of crises,” she said. “In the collection, many of the poems center on the ways in which white supremacy, institutionalized racism, homophobia and misogyny—as well as the cruelty of certain kinds of capitalism—are at the core of the gun violence crisis and those echoes ring out cleanly and clearly, revealing the hideous wounds of American culture.”

The Lamont Gallery’s exhibit featured artwork with “themes of patriotism, war and commemoration in our current cultural environment,” O’Neal said. She added that Bullets Into Bells connected the art pieces to classes, clubs and the broader community. “We … encourage collaborations, including those that amplify and extend exhibition themes.”

Carbonell’s students visited the gallery beforehand to consider how artists were examining America. “Had that not been the exhibit, I still would have taught Bullets Into Bells … the exhibit was that feeling of someone telling you, ‘Yes, you are on the right path,’” Carbonell said.

Students across campus gravitated towards the mission of the reading and how it touched on various aspects of the broader issue at hand. Lower Jacqueline Luque, for example, used statistics in her performance to illustrate her claims against gun violence. “Did you know that there have been 25 mass shootings in this month alone?” she asked. “Statistics like those can hit you really hard.”

However, as lower Oscair Page noted, the reading accomplished more than just relaying statistics. “We can relate to the stories expressed through poems and art and we begin to think of people affected by gun violence as real people with individual stories rather than just more numbers on a chart,” Page said. 

Lower Siona Jain felt that ensuring the reading was apolitical made performance more effective.  “I think we were avoiding politics and, instead, honoring those who had their lives taken by a tiny but deadly piece of metal,” she said. “I hope, with much of the community attending, we can spur conversations on gun control in clubs.”

While some students read directly out of Bullets Into Bells, some, like lower Isaac Saunders, read their own poetry. For Saunders, an installation in American Mortals inspired his original work. “When I saw that piece, a pile of matches representing civilian deaths illuminated in the gallery’s lights, I knew I was going to write about it,” he said. “I think that expressing work like this, which means a lot to my military family, is a very important opportunity.”

Another reader, lower Sabrina Kearney, presented a painting that accompanied her selected poem. “I think that it is very important for poets and artists to express their opinions through their art because it touches people in a unique way,” Kearney said.

For lower Lekha Masoudi, the reading highlighted the extent to which gun violence affects people across various demographics. “I think poetry really emphasized to me how deep those wounds are,” she said. “It's not just for survivors or their families, but also just for average Americans who think they could be shot or for people of color who feel they can't trust the police at this point, because of all the police violence and racism in our society.”

Reflecting upon her experience, upper Nahla Owens believed that this emotion is a product of expressing pain in a creative manner. “I feel like there’s something about performance art in particular which makes people remember it,” Owens said. “I think it’s because it sticks with people so much that it becomes a reason for dialogue to continue.”

Lower Kiesse Nanor hopes the reading will inspire more poetry and conversation. “I hope that the Exeter community will receive the reading with sensitivity, and they will be inspired to either learn more about gun violence or try to see what they can do as individuals or a community to speak out against gun violence across America,” Nanor said.

Though affecting change at a young age can be difficult, the poetry reading could still spark action, lower Shep Seba expressed. “I personally think I am too young to make a huge impact, but if one person hears one thing, then they can make one change which leads to one success, which leads to one new thing in the lives of others,” Seba said.

“I believe in social justice as a central pulse in curricular work,” Carbonell concluded. “I would love a chance for us to explore the moments when, as educators, we are being called to stand in solidarity with our students, with national movements, when we are being called to speak out and participate in social justice activism. How might we consider social justice activism as a part of ‘non-sibi’?”