Words by Winter

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The thing about trust is that it's not always instinctive. Sometimes it takes effort, and intention, to train your mind on goodness instead of fear.

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. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem-ish lines from "World So Full," and the song itself, are used with kind permission of musician and artist Jon Dee Graham, who can be found at jondeegraham.com. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected].

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Today's episode is about a listener named Janet, whose mother is at one end of life, whose new grandson is on the other, and where is she? Held in the the vast in-between of loss and love.

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. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today’s poem, “The Hammock,” by Li-Young Lee, is used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of BOA Editions, Ltd. The excerpt from The Latehomecomer, by Kao Kalia Yang, is used with permission of the author, who can be found at kaokaliayang.com.

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Wide-open streets, the snow-capped Rockies, skinny-dipping in Flathead Lake. We were free, free, free. Now I know you can hold a moment of freedom in your heart your whole life long.

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. Alison Luterman's poem "Canoe" was read by Luke O'Brien with kind permission of the poet, who can be found at alisonluterman.net. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. 

 

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What wearies you? What renews you? Who brings you joy? Who exhausts you? When you think of safety and comfort and happiness, what place or person comes to mind? The answers to these questions are already known 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.

Today's poem, Mail, by John Freeman, is read with kind permission of the poet and can be found in his wonderful collection Maps, published by Copper Canyon Press. 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 [email protected]. 

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We're always children, aren't we? We always look for, and depend on in the deepest part of our beings, our parents. We want them to take care of us, to see us, to soothe us, to recognize our accomplishments and our graces.

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. Artwork by Mark Garry. Today's poem, "How About?" by Steve Healey, is from his wonderful book Safe Houses I Have Known, published by Coffee House Press. It was read by Nico and Ramona and also by Luke O'Brien. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. 

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A listener in Germany writes in with this question: "Are you haunted by moments when something really bad could have happened, an accident, for example, but then things went 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 composed and performed by Dylan Perese. Additional music by musician Kelly Krebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. 

 

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Have you ever carried a secret inside of you, something crucial that no one in the entire world knows about? Has the psychic weight of it felt like a threat to your existence?

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, "Small Kindnesses," by Danusha Lameris, was read by Luke O'Brien with the permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. 

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Not 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 [email protected]. 

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My 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 [email protected]. 

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Remember 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 [email protected].