The most comprehensive anthology of documentary and witness poetry in a generation

I Witness brings together more than 80 contemporary poets who engage with documents, lived experience, and research to chronicle injustice, resistance, and survival. These poems investigate war, incarceration, climate crisis, racism, disability, gun violence, poverty, and colonialism--while also holding space for tenderness, joy, and hope. Contributors from across the globe reveal what happens when poets refuse to look away. Each poem includes notes on process and sources, inviting readers into the work of making history through language. Ultimately, these are poems about seeing and being seen--a living archive that exposes folded lies and opens new imaginaries.

I Witness fills a documented gap in poetry anthologies by offering the first comprehensive collection of documentary, witness, and research-based poetry. The editors cite established scholars (eg Metres, Nowak, Ehlers, and Herd) while distinguishing among the three forms and acknowledging their fluid boundaries. The anthology's accessible design is intentional: documentary poetics operates along a continuum from academic scholarship to grassroots activism, and this anthology aims to serves both ends. The collection invites scholarly conversation while providing practitioners with usable models and pedagogy, helping readers appreciate the full range of how these poems function in the world.