Margins of the Mind, by Katie Zurich

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

In Margins of the Mind, Katie Zurich gives voice to the forgotten spaces where childhood, education, and motherhood collided under the weight of a world undone. These poems move like fault lines—tracing the fractures left by isolation, loss, and a system too quick to reduce children to numbers. With fierce  tenderness and an unflinching eye, Zurich bears witness to what was taken, what was overlooked, and what refuses to be forgotten. Each page hums with the messy, beautiful ache of resilience—the kind that grows in quiet classrooms, late- night advocacy emails, and the stubborn hope of parents who refuse to look away.

This is not just a collection of poems; it is a reckoning. Margins of the Mind pulses with the raw, often uncomfortable truth that behind every data point is a story—and behind every story, a child still learning to find their voice. Through language that is both sharp and luminous, Zurich reminds us that while systems may forget, the heart never does.

Katie is a writer whose journey began in the snowy streets of Buffalo, New York, and continues in the charming town of Madison, New Jersey. An educator, advocate, and storyteller at heart, she finds beauty in both the everyday and the extraordinary. When she isn’t weaving words, she’s lost in a good book, a Bridgerton binge, or the quiet magic of ordinary days. Her work captures the resilience, humor, and hope tucked into life’s small moments, turning them into something unforgettable. Her greatest story is the life she’s built with her husband, and her daughters are her proudest lines.