i can breathe

Bridging the space between au revoir and memory, the poems in i can breathe bear witness to grief’s transformations, becoming an invitation to honor the weight of loss and the stubborn, blessed persistence of love.

These poems chart the path between losing and learning to live with loss. From the first hollow days of grief through the slow discovery that those we have lost remain woven into our days, this collection offers more than simple consolation. i can breathe gifts the reader with the quiet honesty of someone who has walked this path. Written with aching tenderness, these verses explore how memory becomes a form of continuation, how legacy is both weight and intergenerational gift. This is a book for anyone who has loved someone they can no longer hold, poems for anyone discovering what it means for us to carry on after loss.

Carl Manlan’s poems light the way for solitary and shared footsteps on grief’s path, offering us sweet, wise company on this walk, as we come to understand the profound truth that what we love still lives.