This is Dean Hammer’s review of a new book edited by Arthur Laffin and Carole Sargent called Arise and Witness: Poems by Anne Montgomery, RSCJ.

Note: Sr. Anne Montgomery was a nonviolent witness in war zones in the Holy Land and Iraq, and endured years of imprisonment due to her involvement in Plowshares actions. Her poems are rooted in her love for accompanying the marginalized, borne out of her experience of religious life and community. Most of these poems, now published posthumously, provide unique and rich biblical insights into what it means to be human and a faithful follower of Jesus. This volume serves as both a powerful spiritual anchor and a source of inspiration for all who seek to be a radical witness of truth and hope. Drawing on her experience as a religious, teacher and peacemaker, Anne’s poetry offers powerful scriptural insights that can sustain people’s hope.

Thanks to the skillful and loving work by the editors of Arise and Witness, we are gifted witha posthumous memoir of Sr. Anne Montgomery: poet, mystic, and witness par excellence. While composing this review, I heard Anne’s voice from the heavenly realm protesting the lauding of her extraordinary life: “the story is not about me,” she insisted. Indeed, her story and poetry portray her hopefulness, undaunted by the chaos and violence of our world. Her theopoetic reflections invite us to share her connection with “the God who proclaims peace: the merciful, the advocate, the restorer” (71). Her narrative reveals a lived profession: “The light shone in the darkness and the darkness could not extinguish the light” (22).

In the prologue, Facing the Darkness, Anne cites Denise Levertov, a sage protest poet and mentor of peacemaking: “A voice from the dark called out, the poet must give us imagination of peace…peace, a presence, an energy field more intense than war.” Anne traveled to places of great suffering (Palestine, Iraq, Bosnia, Guantanamo, and various jails as prisoner of conscience) bearing witness to the Light, the mystical force peace and compassion. She “practiced resurrection” (Wendell Berry).

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