Carl Dennis — Breath

A fragile and wondrous technology that we all possess, the human breath powers any number of things in our lives — speeches, feats of music, athleticism, and more. Carl Dennis’s powerful and meditative poem “Breath” calls on us to take a moment, give our breath our full attention, and celebrate it.
Carl Dennis is the author of 13 works of poetry, including Earthborn (onbeing.org/programs/carl-dennis-breath/#media) (Penguin Books/Penguin Random House, 2022), as well as a collection of essays called Poetry as Persuasion (onbeing.org/programs/carl-dennis-breath/#media) (University of Georgia Press, 2001). In 2000, he received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for his contribution to American poetry. His 2001 collection Practical Gods (onbeing.org/programs/carl-dennis-breath/#media) (Penguin Books/Penguin Random House) won the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Buffalo, New York.
Find the transcript (onbeing.org/programs/carl-dennis-breath/#trans…) for this show at onbeing.org.
We’re pleased to offer Carl Dennis’s poem (onbeing.org/poetry/breath), and invite you to read Pádraig’s weekly Poetry Unbound Substack (poetryunbound.substack.com), read the Poetry Unbound book (linktr.ee/poetryunbound), or listen back to all our episodes (onbeing.org/series/poetry-unbound).

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