Words by Winter

Send us Fan Mail

It's an end of the month Poetry Snack, with Sara Teasdale.

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, Barter,  is by Sara Teasdale and is in the public domain. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected].

Send us Fan Mail

Did you know that until maybe 200 or 250 years ago, the word “they” was perfectly acceptable as a singular pronoun? Times change, language is malleable, and poems reflect both these truths.

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. Today’s poems, Syntax and its next generation version, immigrant can’t write poetry, are by Wang Ping and are used with her kind permission. 

Send us Fan Mail

What are the little phrases and lines and words that keep you going?

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, Owls, by Robert Hedin, is used with his kind permission and was read by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected].

Send us Fan Mail

A listener writes in about a dream she keeps having. She's in a house she doesn't recognize, looking for a door she can't find.

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 Accordion” by Connie Wanek, is read with kind permission of the poet and is from her book On Speaking Terms, published by Copper Canyon Press.

Send us Fan Mail

It's an end of the month Poetry Snack, with Fenton Johnson.

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, Revery, by Fenton Johnson, is in the public domain and was read by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected].

Send us Fan Mail

Hope for the future feels familiar, but what about hope for the past as well? A listener in Texas wrote in hoping for a poem that might bring him some comfort. 

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, Thanks, Robert Frost, written and copyrighted by David Ray, was read by Mark Garry with kind permission of the poet. You can find more of David Ray’s work on his website, davidraypoet.com. 

Send us Fan Mail

Did you used to sing a lot when you were a kid? Does music from your past bring you straight to a specific place, a specific time, specific people?

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 beautiful poem, A Lao Jia Song Is a Song of Home, by Stephanie Niu, was first published in the Southeast Review, and was read by the poet herself. The link to the youtube video with the ballerina can be found here.

Send us Fan Mail

Answers to the question "Tell me about an object in your home that you love, will you? One that has special meaning, maybe only to 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 for our show is by Dylan Perese. Additional music by Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today's additional readers are Devon O'Brien and Matthew Colfax. Naomi Shihab Nye’s beautiful poem Daily is read with her kind permission. I encourage you all to look up her work, as she is one of my and our country’s most beloved poets. 

Send us Fan Mail

It's an end of the month Poetry Snack, with Elizabeth Coatsworth.

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, Swift Things Are Beautiful, is by Elizabeth Coatsworth. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected].

Send us Fan Mail

How do we learn to cope with "the big feelings" and understand that we are more than them? More  than our times of depression, more than our thoughts of suicide. We are also our times of lightness and laughter, love and redemption. 

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 or someone you love are depressed or suicidal, call 1.800.273.TALK, or if you prefer texting, text NAMI to 741-741. Original theme music for our show is by Dylan Perese. Artwork by Mark Garry. Thanks to Devon O'Brien for sharing her experiences as a social worker. Jessy Randall’s beautiful poem Suicide Hotline Hold Music is read with the kind permission of Red Hen Press.