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Laura Kasischke is the author of numerous poetry collections, including I Was Bonnie and Clyde (Copper Canyon , 2026); Dance and Disappear, recipient of the Juniper Award; and Space, in Chains, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. She has also published ten novels, including The Lifeguard (Red Hen, 2026) and a short story collection, If a Stranger Approaches You. Her other honors include the Juniper Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and the Rilke Prize. She is the Theodore Roethke Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature and lives in Chelsea, Michigan, with her husband and son.


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2011 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry



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by Laura Kasischke
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The first time I sit down to it alone
I am flesh surrounded by space.

The space begins at the edges of my body
and from there it expands to contain


everything.


I’ve sinned.
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