Big Breath of a Wish
Richard Harrison
January 1998
82 pages | ISBN 978-0-919897-62-5
**Nominated for the Governor General's Award for Poetry**
**Winner of the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize**
Richard Harrison's fourth book, Big Breath of a Wish, delves deeply into the linguistic discoveries children make in their first two years of life. It uniquely opens up these discoveries to readers, who identify both with the child and the parents and, through Harrison's clear, suggestive language, rediscover themselves.
"These are spells of the vocal body. John Cage, John Lennon, whale song and Derrida intertwine in this collage of sound moments from the first year of life. Fall under the spell of this quirky generous vision that links the urge to speak with the urge to know, to be known, and to love. Harrison is simply one of the best poets, male or female, to open up his art to the passions of parenthood." – Nadine McInnis
Reviews
Family Albums, Poetic Genealogies (Kegan Doyle, Canadian Literature, 9/1/2000).
"His poems combine an eye for the sensuous detail, an ear for the beauties of noise, and a deft intellect."
About the Author
Richard Harrison’s eight books include the Governor General’s Award–finalist Big Breath of a Wish, and Hero of the Play, the first book of poetry launched at the Hockey Hall of Fame. He teaches English and Creative Writing at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, a position he took up after being the Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary in 1995. His work has been published, broadcast and displayed around the world, and his poems have been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. In On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood, Richard reflects on his father’s death, the Alberta Flood and what poetry offers a life lived around it.
Other Titles by this Author
25: Hockey Poems Selected and New (2019)
On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood (2016)
Secret Identity Reader: Essays on Sex, Death and the Superhero (2010)
Now is the Winter: Thinking about Hockey (2009)
Worthy of His Fall (2005)