In her powerful new book, I Brought the War With Me, journalist and war correspondent Lindsey Hilsum explores how poetry can express what traditional reporting often cannot. After long days in war zones, Hilsum found that her dispatches, while factual, sometimes lacked the emotional truth of what she had witnessed. In a recent interview, she shared how she turned to poetry to fill that void—seeking a different language, a different lens, to convey the human experience of war.
Beyond the cold facts of missile strikes and body counts, poetry reframes the narrative. It brings nuance, empathy, and depth—offering a raw, intimate vision of the suffering behind the headlines.
By interweaving her frontline reporting with poems written by those directly affected by conflict, Hilsum reveals a portrait of war that pulses with humanity.