In the poetry collection Brother Bullet, poet Casandra López explores her grief in the wake of the death of her brother, Joseph, who was killed by gun violence in December 2010. Lopez takes a reader through the terrain of memory, individual and collective. From the publisher, University of Arizona Press: “Drawing on migratory experiences, López transports the reader to the Inland Empire, Baja California, New Mexico, and Arizona to create a frame for memory, filled with imagery, through the cyclical but changing essence of sorrow. “
The collection opens with “Where Bullet Breaks”/San Bernardino 2010:
Come —
See where Bullet broke
Brother, see where I break,
where we split into before
and after. We fracture
at the root, both
believers in science and prayer.
For survivors, this collection offers many moments of kinship with someone who viscerally understands the “before and after” and has put the journey of her grief and pain into word songs of survival.
For readers searching for a window into the lasting trauma of gun violence on individuals and communities, this collection invites you in and holds you there, as hard as it may be to stay.
Here is a link to a fantastic interview with the poet at the Los Angeles Review of Books, which may help you, your book club, or survivor or community group decide if you want to get this on your schedule.
