We all need a little light and loveliness to get us through the darkness of deep winter. Twin Cities poet Todd Boss understands that, and he thinks poetry might help.

His online poetry journal, "Flurry," comes out intermittently from winter solstice through spring equinox. Over the three years it's been around, it has grown from Minnesota poets to include poets from the Dakotas and now Wisconsin. You'll find familiar names -- Alex Lemon, Ethna McKiernan, Raul Sanchez, to start -- and lovely poems.

You can find the journal on Boss' Web page. Go to www.todd bosspoet.com and click on "Flurry." If you like, you can sign up and Boss will let you know by e-mail as new poems -- or, "precipitations," as he calls them -- are posted.

And when they are all done, it will be spring. What could be nicer?

Also ...

• Minneapolis writer Lisa Westberg Peters has two books coming out in the spring. "Frankie Works the Night Shift" will be published by Greenwillow/HarperCollins, and "Volcano Wakes Up!," a collection of poems that tell the story of a day on an imaginary volcano, is coming out with Henry Holt. The poems were inspired by Peters' trips to the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.

• Nominations for the Kay Sexton Award are being accepted by the folks at the Minnesota Book Awards. The award is presented annually to a person or an organization for work promoting books, reading and literary activity in the state. Patrick Coleman, acquisitions librarian for the Minnesota Historical Society, was honored in 2009. The nomination deadline is Jan. 15. Forms are at www.thefriends.org/mba_special_awards.html or by calling 651-366-6497. The award will be presented in April.

• The film "Cold Mountain," about T'ang Dynasty poet Han Shan, will premiere on Twin Cities Public Television (KTCA, Ch. 2) at 10 p.m. today and will be rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Saturday. The half-hour film is by Mike Hazard of St. Paul and James Lenfestey of Minneapolis and was filmed in China, Japan and the United States. Three animated Han Shan poems are online at: tinyurl.com/yc5lslz.

• "The Bird Watching Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Birds in Your Backyard and Beyond," by Laura Erickson, has been published by Storey Publishing. Erickson divides her time between Duluth and Ithaca, N.Y., where she is science editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.