Words by Winter

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You 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 [email protected]. 

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The 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 [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page. 

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Why 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.

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One 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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com. 

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The 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 [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.

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What 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 [email protected] and soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.

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A 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 [email protected] and soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.

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A couple of weeks ago I asked readers to tell me what they were struggling with, and responses came rolling in. Then I asked them to tell me what they're thankful for, and the floodgates opened. Sorrow and thanks, in equal measure, both of which make me think of one of my favorite poems, by David Hernandez.

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.

"Anyone Who Is Still Trying," by David Hernandez, is from his beautiful book Dear, Sincerely, published by the University of Pittsburg Press in 2016 and used with permission of the author. It was read by writer and voice artist Luke O'Brien, who can be reached at [email protected]. Reader contributions were read by Matthew Colfax and 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 [email protected] and soundcloud.com/kellykrebs. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com and click on the Words by Winter podcast page.

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Do you ever wish you could go back in time? Undo things? Make someone's life better? Today I’m back in third grade, thinking about a boy I grew up with, a boy who sat a few desks away from me, a boy I was scared of my entire childhood.


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. 

"With that Moon Language," by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, is in the public domain. It was read by writer and voice artist Luke O'Brien, who can be reached at [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com. 

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Long ago, on a night full of stars, I was alone and terrified. My cell phone was in the back pocket of my jeans and I reached for it and punched in a number I had memorized, then sat with my heart pounding as someone picked up.

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. 

"Suicide Hotline Hold Music," by Jessy Randall, is used with permission of Red Hen Press, and read by writer and voice artist Luke O'Brien, who can be reached at [email protected]. Original music composed and performed by Dylan Perese, who can be found on Instagram at @dylan.field.perese. Words by Winter can be reached at [email protected]. For more information, go to alisonmcghee.com.