The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), in collaboration with the New Hanover County Arboretum and Cooperative Extension, is set to showcase an event titled “Poetry at the Arboretum.” Scheduled to open on May 2, this installation emphasizes the significance of native plant life within the Cape Fear Region. The event aims to highlight the talent of creative writing students.
UNCW’s creative writing master’s students will perform poetry readings inspired by native plants. The poems will explore the various stages of a plant’s life cycle, its habitat contributions, human interactions, and its regional importance. This initiative is part of a spring 2025 workshop on ecopoetics led by UNCW professor, Anna Lena Phillips Bell.
“The native plants of our region deserve special attention and care, and these poets have lavished them with both, writing inventive and well-researched poems for their chosen species,” Bell remarked. “I’m thankful to the staff of the Arboretum for making this project possible, and to UNCW for vital funding. I can’t wait to see my students’ work alongside the plants they’ve written about, and to hear them share it aloud.”
Following the readings, attendees can walk through the native plant garden, where they will find displays of each poem alongside its corresponding plant. These displays will be available throughout the summer at the Arboretum.
The event is open to the public with free registration available online. The project is supported by the New Hanover County Arboretum and a High-Impact Practices Pedagogy Initiative Award from UNCW.
For more details, visit Arboretum.NHCgov.com.
