The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by The Native Plant Society of New Jersey

We have a very special episode for you this month, featuring an inspiring lineup of guests who invite us to lean into curiosity and reflect on reciprocity, history, and the connections to one another found within the natural world.  We open with our guest poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil (0:03:15), who joins Ann in conversation about her stunning new poetry collection Night Owl (Ecco). Aimee shares her...

The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by the Native Plant Society of New Jersey Hosted by Ann E. Wallace, PhD Poet Laureate Emeritus of Jersey City Author of Keeping Room Co-host Kim Correro Director of State Programs Co-owner of Wildflower City Special Contributor Dr. Randi Eckel Vice President of Membership Owner of Toadshade Wildflower Farm Do you have a question about native plants fo...

This month, our guest poet is Dorsia Smith Silva (0:02:51), whose collection In Inheritance of Drowning , published by CavanKerry Press, bears witness to the devastating impacts of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. Dorsia speaks with Ann about the long recovery process and the power of the community, both in moments of crisis and in the extended aftermath of extreme weather events. On Ask Randi (0:3...

Welcome to Season 4 of the WildStory! We have a wonderful, jam-packed season opener, and we hope you enjoy all that we have in store for you this episode!   To open, Award winning poet James Crews (0:3:15), author of the forthcoming book Breathing Room (Battenkill Books, March 17th), and our featured poet in Episode 19, is back! This time as our guest host, speaking with Ann E. Wallace about her n...

In the season three finale of The WildStory, poet Han VanderHart (0:2:29) joins Ann to discuss their collection Larks, which was published in 2025 by Ohio University Press. Han and Ann talk about the uncertainty and mutability of knowledge and the ordering of the natural world, and about the poet’s work of observation—not only of what we can see and hear, but of all that we can’t. In the Ask Randi...

In this episode of The Wildstory,  Ann Wallace  and  Kim Correro   sit down with the incomparable  Julie  Zickefoose  (0:2:39), beloved writer, birder, and wildlife rehabilitator. Julie shares a first listen of her unpublished nature poetry and dives into the brand-new edition of  Birdwatching for Dummies, co-written with   bwd  editors Jessica Vaughan and Dawn Hewitt. And don’t miss the finale: J...

This month’s featured poet is Holli Carrell, whose debut collection  Apostasies  was recently published by Perugia Press. Holli speaks about her personal process of reflection and discovery—including an intentional turn toward the natural world—after leaving the Mormon church of her upbringing.    In Ask Randi, Dr. Randi Eckel, Owner of ToadShade Wildflower Farm, tackles a listener’s question abou...

This episode features poet Lynne Shapiro (0:2:29) of Hoboken, New Jersey, who speaks with Ann about her collection To Set Right, published in 2021 by WordTech Editions, and about her work in progress. Lynne’s work holds space for the life we can and cannot see. She talks with Ann about the importance of returns, learning to see, and the persistence of nature, and reminds us that, to truly know a p...

Today’s featured poet is Charise Hoge (0:03:35) whose latest collection , Inheritance of Flowers, came out this spring from Kelsay Books. Reflecting on her grandmother’s legacy as a southern flower shop owner, Charise speaks with Ann about ancestry, belonging, and our internal connections with nature that are sustaining even in times of upheaval and hibernation. In the  Ask Randi  segment, Dr. Ran...

Today’s featured poet is Ibe Liebenberg (0:03:51) who joins Ann Wallace to talk about his new collection,  Birds at Night,   published in 2025 by Texas Tech University Press. Ibe is a member of the Chickasaw nation, as well as a firefighter from Paradise, California. With wildfires causing increasing destruction across the nation in recent years, we have wanted to speak with a firefighter on The W...

In this episode, featured poet Theta Pavis (0:03:00) speaks with Ann Wallace about her new chapbook,  The Red Strobe,  which just came out from Finishing Line Press. Theta’s work is marked by grief and pain, but also love, family, protection, and a fierce kind of resilience—as can be seen in the garden her mother created many years ago, a garden which is now Theta’s, in her Jersey City yard. Follo...

The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by the Native Plant Society of New Jersey Hosted by Ann E. Wallace, PhD Poet Laureate Emeritus of Jersey City Co-host Kim Correro , Rutgers Master Gardener and Director of State Programs Special Contributor Dr. Randi Eckel Entomologist and Vice President of Membership NPSNJ Do you have a question about native plants for Randi? Email: TheWildStory@npsn...

Our featured poet is James Crews, (0:3:54) who speaks with Ann Wallace about his new book,  Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage, and Compassion   from Mandala Publishing. James offers wisdom about all that we can learn from the natural world, when we allow ourselves to quiet the ever-present din, open our senses, and refocus our attention. Knowing this is easier said than done, J...

Today’s featured poet is Elizabeth Sylvia, (03:39) who speaks with Ann Wallace about her new manuscript  Eating Cake in the Garden with Marie Antoinette , as well as her 2022 collection,  None But Witches: Poems on Shakespeare’s Women (Three Mile Harbor Press). They spoke about Marie Antoinette’s model farm, a product of opulent privilege but also a site of refuge at a time of revolution, and the...

Episode 17 features poet Nadia Colburn (03:47), who joins Ann Wallace from Massachusetts to speak about her new collection, I Say the Sky, published this year by University of Kentucky Press. Nadia’s collection is a work of meditative healing, moving from silence into power. She invites us to see ourselves reflected in nature, and that poetry, in the words of Audre Lorde, indeed is not a luxury. ...

This episode of The WildStory is all about the southernmost point in New Jersey—beautiful Cape May, known to beachgoers as a summer destination. But for nature lovers, September is migration season and the very best time to head to Cape May. Which is exactly what many of us from the Native Plant Society of New Jersey will be doing, for a special trip to Cape May the weekend of September 27th throu...

This episode features an interview with best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver (0:04:34) from 2022. It was recorded for The WildStory’s predecessor, an Instagram series called Saturday Morning Poetry, hosted by the Hudson County Chapter of NPSNJ . Barbara Kingsolver is of course most widely known for her brilliant novels, but she is also a poet with two published collections. In this interview, re...

In episode 14, Kai Coggin , Poet Laureate of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and host of Wednesday Night Poetry (0:02:56), talks with Ann Wallace about her new book  Mother of Other Kingdoms, published in April 2024 by Harbor Editions. Kai speaks about the many ways in which the tender act of mothering living things, whether wild or human, has enriched her life and provides sustaining lessons on finding jo...

In episode 13, Camille T. Dungy (0:03:00), a renowned poet, essayist, and memoirist, joins Ann Wallace in conversation about her book  Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden , published by Simon and Schuster in 2023 and now out in paperback.  Soil  is a book that invites us into Camille’s native plant prairie project at her home in Colorado, but it is also about much more than that, taking us...

In episode 12, we reflect on the nature that is close at hand, in our backyards, neighborhoods, and nearby wild places—as our featured guests invite us into the habitats they explore, celebrate, and help preserve—and share the joy those spaces spark.   First, J. Drew Lanham (02:49)—poet, ecologist, and ornithologist—speaks with Ann about his new book Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves, and the l...

Hosted by Ann E. Wallace, PhD Poet Laureate of Jersey City Co-host Kim Correro , Rutgers Master Gardener Special Contributor Dr. Randi Eckel Entomologist and Vice President of Membership of NPSNJ Do you have a question about native plants for Randi? Email: TheWildStory@npsnj.org In this episode, we reflect on the passage of time – as we hear from two authors who each created books that span the co...

In this episode, Lauren Camp , (02.38) Poet Laureate of New Mexico, speaks with Ann Wallace about her recent collection  Worn Smooth Between Devourings  ( NYQ Books, 2023), as well as  In Old Sky , forthcoming in April from Grand Canyon Conservancy. We discuss the intensification of attention required for writing the desert landscape, the limits and opportunities offered by language, and the ways...

In this episode, poet and herbalist Adrie Rose speaks with Ann Wallace (02:22) about her new chapbook Rupture, published last month by Gold Line Press. They discuss the pain Adrie experienced following a life-threatening ruptured ectopic pregnancy, along with other losses, and how poetry, nature, and native plants together allow space for the cycles of grief and healing.  Dr. Randi Eckel (34:51) p...

Poet Tess Taylor (2:10) speaks with Ann Wallace about her new anthology  Leaning Toward Light: Poems for Gardens and the Hands That Tend Them  (Storey Publishing, 2023) and the ability of poems to carry us through the seasons of planting, tending, grieving, harvesting, sharing in a world filled with both joy and crisis. We reflect on the deliberate cultivation of happiness as a discipline, and at...

Poet Emily Hockaday (2:07) speaks with Ann Wallace about her new poetry collection,  In a Body , published in October 2023 by Harbor Editions. Emily discusses the layered ways in which new motherhood, the death of her father, a diagnosis of fibromyalgia—as well as science and ecology—have shaped Emily’s work, much of which she composed while walking with her child on the trails of Forest Park in Q...