Words by Winter

Alison McGhee
undefined
Sep 15, 2025 • 12min

Nine-Eleven, with Charlotte Parsons

Send us a textIt's been a long time, friends. Six months, to be precise. But we're back and we intend to keep coming back. Take heart. We're all in this together.  Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Nine-Eleven, is by Charlotte Parsons. Although today's poem has been featured on hundreds of websites I'm unable to find out any information about Charlotte Parsons other than that this poem first appeared on The Writer's Almanac on September 11, 2017. This leads me to suspect that Charlotte Parsons is a pseudonym for someone else. If anyone's in the know, please clue me in. 
undefined
Mar 11, 2025 • 7min

Poetry in the public domain, with Edward Thomas

Send us a textAnyone else out there haunted by the calls of owls, coyotes, wolves, in the middle of the night?  Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, The Owl, is by Edward Thomas and is in the public domain. 
undefined
Feb 25, 2025 • 10min

Refusal to Mourn, with Andrea Cohen

Send us a textMy dog hides nothing: his love, his pain, his hunger, his tiredness. As a result, he tends to get what he wants and needs. I am not like my dog. Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Refusal to Mourn, is by Andrea Cohen and is featured here with kind permission of the poet.  I encourage you to check out more of her beautiful work. 
undefined
Feb 11, 2025 • 7min

Poetry in the public domain, with Marion Strobel

Send us a textLittle things. Tiny things. Things to hold gently. Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Little Things, is by Marion Strobel and is in the public domain.  
undefined
Jan 28, 2025 • 10min

Jesus at the Gay Bar, with Jay Hulme

Send us a textSo much pain in life, the kind of pain inflicted by humans upon each other because of differing theologies, feels unnecessary to me. Can't we all be who we are?Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Jesus at the Gay Bar, is by Jay Hulme and is featured here with kind permission of the poet.  I encourage you to check out more of his beautiful work. 
undefined
Jan 14, 2025 • 8min

Poetry in the public domain, with Piyassili of Assyria, 1218 BC

Send us a textIt's a beautiful thing, how a poem written more than three thousand years ago can come shimmering up through the ages, an arrow to the heart.  Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Injustice, is by Piyassili of Assyria, 1218 BC, and is featured here as part of our Poetry in the Public Domain series. 
undefined
Dec 30, 2024 • 14min

We Three Kings, with Dante Di Stefano

Send us a textYears go by and you live through so many things that don’t turn out as you hope, and you know this will keep on happening. The flip side of this is a kind of gratitude I could not have felt when I was younger, a combination of telescope and microscope: all the awfulness will always be there, and so will a thousand tiny beautiful moments.Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, We Three Kings, is by Dante Di Stefano and is featured here with kind permission of the poet.  I encourage you to check out more of his beautiful work. 
undefined
Nov 22, 2024 • 10min

Inscrutable, with Dorothy Parker

Send us a textOh, Ms. Parker. Ms. Parker! How do you do what you do? I read your poems over and over.  Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music composed and performed by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry.  Today's poem, Inscrutable, by poet, editor, and Algonquin Round Table founder Dorothy Parker, is in the public domain. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. 
undefined
Nov 4, 2024 • 11min

Naive, with Tim Seibles

Send us a textOh, childhood and the friends we made then. The friends I had when I was a child will be with me forever, even if only in memory, in a kind of longing way.  Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Naive, is by Tim Seibles and is featured here with kind permission of the poet.  I encourage you to check out more of his beautiful work. 
undefined
Oct 21, 2024 • 6min

The Garden by Moonlight, with Amy Lowell

Send us a textI'm preparing my garden for winter as this episode airs, and feeling nostalgic for its summer glory, something that the poet seems to feel as well. Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music composed and performed by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry.  Today's poem, The Garden by Moonlight, by poet and translator Amy Lowell, is in the public domain. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. 

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app