I am trapped within
the confines of my world,
one more enclosed
than those who have family,
lovers, children, and
other tangential selves,
their subsets overlapping,
so that all else is them
or their relations,
paper dolls cut
so they perpetually
connect.
Laury A. Egan’s first full-length poetry collection, Snow, Shadows, a Stranger, was released from FootHills Publishing in 2009. Her work has received a Pushcart Prize nomination and has appeared in Atlanta Review, The Emily Dickinson Awards Anthology, The Ledge Magazine, Centrifugal Eye, Willows Wept Review, Ginosko, Leaf Garden, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Main Channel Voices, Boston Literary Quarterly, Foliate Oak, and forthcoming in Lowestoft Chronicle, Lame Goat Press, Welter, and Sephyrus Press’ Afterlife Anthology. In addition, she writes fiction and is a fine arts photographer. www.lauryaegan.com
© 2010, Laury A. Egan
Halfway Down the Stairs 