Wind plays rough, knowing it will eventually decide what remains up-right. In the poem, “Oak,” Laury A. Egan implies that she has experienced a great deal of “wind” in recent years. The book depicts her struggle with disability, the loss of her spouse, and the insidious effects of aging—the progression from presence to, ultimately, absence. Some of the poems are observational and some are more personal, yet her approach throughout is honest, unsentimental, and sometimes wry, invoking her characteristic lyric naturalism.