“I didn’t plan to become a poet. I just didn’t know where else to put the pain.”

Joshua Zane Winters is not a career author. He is a father, a tire technician, and a man shaped by the quiet strength of real-life love. Born and raised in Harrisburg, Illinois, Josh spent most of his adult life working with his hands—fixing cars, raising kids, and building a life with Kimberly Nicole Winters, the girl he fell in love with as a teenager. They were together for over twenty years, married for twelve, and raised four beautiful children side by side.

When Kimberly passed away, the world didn’t just feel quieter—it felt shattered. In the midst of grief, with no roadmap to follow and no words that seemed enough, Josh wrote. One of the first poems, “I Closed Her Eyes,” came out of a conversation about the night she died. That single expression opened the floodgates. One poem turned into many. What began as a coping mechanism became a lifeline—not just for him, but for others walking their own path through loss.

Beacons, Echoes, and Hues… a gift from a loss is Josh’s first book. It’s a chronicle of mourning and memory, told through poetry that is both deeply personal and universally felt. His writing is raw, unfiltered, and brave—touching on everything from fatherhood to regret, from flashbacks of joy to the aching weight of absence. Through it all, one thing is clear: this is a love story, still being told.

Josh writes not for recognition, but out of reverence—for Kim, for their children, and for anyone who has ever had to find light in the dark. He believes stories live on when we share them. And with every page, he offers the world a little piece of the heart he still carries for her.