Bittersweet: The Certainty of Change Paperback – January 13, 2026

Bittersweet: The Certainty of Change is a poetry collection that witnesses life with honesty, tenderness, and awe. Cynthia Winter explores the cycles of nature and the seasons of human experience, finding meaning in the smallest details—the flight of a dragonfly, the sound of crunching leaves, a fleeting memory.Through five sections—Portraits, Impressions, Seasons, Snapshots, and Spirit— Winter offers poems that invite readers to pause, reflect, and discover their own connection to life’s shifting rhythms. Inside Bittersweet you’ll find:Poetry rooted in nature’s cycles and human emotionsReflections on compassion, loss, resilience, and renewalOriginal artwork by the author in pencil, ink, watercolor, pastel, and photographyA gentle yet profound reminder of life’s fleeting, beautiful moments Fans of Mary Oliver, Maya Angelou, and Billy Collins will feel at home in Winter’s work.Bittersweet: The Certainty of Change is a collection to return to in every season of life, offering solace, clarity, and a quiet celebration of the human spirit. Advance Praise for Bittersweet:“Cynthia Winter’s debut poetry collection, Bittersweet, finds beauty in small moments—a ‘choir of cricket song,’ a street performer finding her voice, an old man caring for an old dog. Nature thrives in these epiphanic pearls of observation—a ripple of wind across a still lake, the hummingbird’s iridescent green, the deep wisdom of migrating geese, milkweed pods bursting with potential life. Here are poems of quiet celebration and self-reflection; poems that harness the power of water and time to sow the seeds of kindness and hope.~Hollie Hardy, author of Lions Like Us and How to Take a Bullet and Other Survival Poems Read more