Words by Winter

Send us a textNot all revolutions are loud and violent. Take the poetry revolution, for example. The poetry revolution will not be televised. The poetry revolution is a kind of hand to hand non-combat, silent offerings from a future, kinder world. 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 poems were all found in my poetry hut, left by anonymous visitors. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. 

Send us a textMy daughter and I were reminiscing yesterday about a time, a few years ago, when we went through a phase where the answer to every question was “Sure.” I don’t say Sure all the time anymore, but the influence of doing so has stayed with me. 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.Kaylin Haught’s fabulous poem can be found on the Poetry 180 site, sponsored by the U.S. government. Original theme music composed and performed by Dylan Perese. Additional music by musician Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. 

Send us a textRemember when no one wore seatbelts? Remember when every bar and public place and airplane was filled with cigarette smoke? Remember when your gay friends couldn’t get married? Change comes tiny step by tiny step and then, all at once. 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 musician Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, Tired of Speaking Sweetly, by Hafiz, was read by Luke O’Brien and is in the public domain. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. 

Send us a textYou know the way it feels when you’re fired, or when you find out a bunch of friends were all at a celebration you weren’t invited to, or when someone you love breaks up with you?  Like, wait, I mattered that little to you? I'm nothing to you? Even, or especially, when you tried so hard. 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 composed and performed by Dylan Perese. Additional music by musician Kelly Krebs. Galway Kinnell’s poem "St. Francis and the Sow" was read by writer and voice actor Luke O’Brien and used with permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. 

Send us a textThe older I get, the softer I want to be. The judgment I carried around when I was young was mostly internal, but it was harsh. And what good did it do anyone? What good did it do me? 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 composed and performed by Dylan Perese, who can be found on Instagram at @dylan.field.perese. Additional music composed and performed by Kelly Krebs, who can be reached at soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Rumi's poem is in the public domain. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.  

Send us a textWhy is it that so many memories of freedom, of wildness, are from long ago? Does the world tell us to rein ourselves in, and do we listen, and learn, and obey? Thinking about this, I posed this question to listeners: “Tell me something you love, something you see as beautiful, or magical, or miraculous, about your own physical body, will you?” 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 composed and performed by Dylan Perese. Additional music by musician Kelly Krebs. Sonya Renee Taylor’s gorgeous poem was read by writer and voice actor Luke O’Brien with permission of the author. Information about Sonya Renee Taylor can be found at www.sonyareneetaylor.comand www.thebodyisnotanapology.com. Listener excerpts were read by Doug McGhee and Julie Caniglia. Artwork by Mark Garry. 

Send us a textOne of my most precious friendships began with a single letter and turned into eighteen years of letters. Five years after Garvin's death, I still think about him every day. 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. "My Father, Long Dead," by poet Eileen Sheehan, is used with permission of the author. It can be found in her beautiful collection "The Narrow Way of Souls," published by Salmon Poetry. Read by writer and voice artist Luke O'Brien, who can be reached at lukeobrien3216@gmail.com. Original music composed and performed by Dylan Perese, who can be found on Instagram at @dylan.field.perese. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com. 

Send us a textThe high school graduations of my children were a strange mix for me of pride and love and loss. Listeners wrote in about their feelings surrounding their own children's graduations, and their heartfelt responses make me feel less alone in the bittersweetness of the memories.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. Poet Dante Di Stefano’s "Prompts (for High School Teachers Who Write Poetry)” originally appeared in The Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day series, and is used with his permission. Original theme music composed and performed by Dylan Perese. Additional music composed and performed by Kelly Krebs, who can be reached at  soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.

Send us a textWhat does it mean to write for children in a collapsing world? Writer Marion Dane Bauer explores this question, and the roots of her own wonderment and awe, in a conversation with Alison. 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. Poet Sean Thomas Dougherty’s poem Why Bother, used with his permission, is from his book The Second O of Sorrow, published by BOA Editions. Original theme music composed and performed by Dylan Perese, who can be found on Instagram at @dylan.field.perese. Additional music composed and performed by Kelly Krebs, who can be reached at kellykrebsmusic@gmail.com and soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.

Send us a textA listener named Ellen, originally from the U.S. but living in the Czech Republic, writes in to share what's on her mind and heart, thoughts and feelings so specific to this time but also so universal, 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. "If You Knew," by Ellen Bass, is from her beautiful book The Human Line, published by Copper Canyon Press in 2007 and used with permission of the author and press. It was read by Matthew Colfax and Devon O'Brien. Ellen's letter was read by Devon O'Brien. Original theme music composed and performed by Dylan Perese, who can be found on Instagram at @dylan.field.perese. Additional music composed and performed by Kelly Krebs, who can be reached at kellykrebsmusic@gmail.com and soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.