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Arts & Culture
Something I Heard

Nic Darlinton Reads “Winter Sleep” by Mary Oliver

By Joel Wayne
Published January 9, 2026 at 1:34 PM MST

I asked our guest this month, Nic Darlinton, what feeling the month of January evokes in him.

“January is a time of cold and isolation and sort of avoiding what’s outside,” Darlinton said. “But it’s also a time of planning and the calendar tells us it’s a time of hope and newness. Even though in the real world, that hasn’t happened yet. In the weather, in the season, it’s not reflected. It’s kind of waiting in a gate to be released."

It’s the second week of January and, this month, we’re hearing works along the theme of hibernation. Today, Nic Darlinton reads “Winter Sleep,” a poem by Mary Oliver. Oliver was a many-times-decorated American poet who found her inspiration in nature. She released over two dozen collections of poetry and was called “far and away, this country's best-selling poet,” by the New York Times. She died in 2019.

Something I Heard is supported by Idaho Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tags
Something I Heard LiteraturePoetry
Joel Wayne
I started working with Boise State Public Radio in 2018, first as a freelance podcaster and co-host of <a href="https://youknowtheplacepodcast.com/" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000176-cd8c-dd4d-a7f6-fdbc82e80000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1770959128371,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000178-e86a-ddcf-affb-fb7faf9b0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1770959128371,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000178-e86a-ddcf-affb-fb7faf9b0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;You Know The Place&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://youknowtheplacepodcast.com/&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-5563-d745-a7fd-dd7f82140000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-5563-d745-a7fd-dd7f81710000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">You Know The Place</a>, which ran for six award-winning seasons, visiting funeral homes, ostrich farms, and nude retreats for the story. I later began working as a contract producer on <a href="https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/readers-corner" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000176-cd8c-dd4d-a7f6-fdbc82e80000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1770959164599,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000178-e86a-ddcf-affb-fb7faf9b0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1770959164599,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000178-e86a-ddcf-affb-fb7faf9b0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Reader’s Corner&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/readers-corner&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-5564-d543-a7fc-fd6d29ff0000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-5564-d543-a7fc-fd6d29ff0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Reader’s Corner</a> and <a href="https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/something-i-heard" target="_blank" link-data="{&quot;cms.site.owner&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000176-cd8c-dd4d-a7f6-fdbc82e80000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20&quot;},&quot;cms.content.publishDate&quot;:1770959193586,&quot;cms.content.publishUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000178-e86a-ddcf-affb-fb7faf9b0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.content.updateDate&quot;:1770959193586,&quot;cms.content.updateUser&quot;:{&quot;_ref&quot;:&quot;00000178-e86a-ddcf-affb-fb7faf9b0001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc&quot;},&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;anchorable.showAnchor&quot;:false,&quot;link&quot;:{&quot;cms.directory.paths&quot;:[],&quot;attributes&quot;:[],&quot;linkText&quot;:&quot;Something I Heard&quot;,&quot;target&quot;:&quot;NEW&quot;,&quot;attachSourceUrl&quot;:false,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/something-i-heard&quot;,&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-5564-dfdd-adde-dffea9f00000&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a&quot;},&quot;_id&quot;:&quot;0000019c-5564-dfdd-adde-dffea9f00001&quot;,&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288&quot;}">Something I Heard</a>, the former in its 24th year of interviewing NYT-bestselling, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning authors, the latter a bite-sized literary break, along a monthly theme.
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