Witness Before the Fall unfolds between the lush, sinking streets of New Orleans and the wide landscapes of the American West, between memory and place, and loss and beauty. In this debut collection, Emily Cosper explores aging, family history, and the passage of time through poems that bear witness to a father's slow decline, a beloved city both magical and troubled, and the ancestors and stories that shape our lives.

Rich with the sights, sounds, and contradictions of New Orleans, these poems move through grief, wonder, environmental change, and the enduring pull of home. Here, loss abounds even as gardens bloom, and creativity offers solace in the face of uncertainty. Witness Before the Fall is a meditation on aging, acceptance, and what we choose to hold close as everything else slips away.