The Heart Path Podcast

What happens when we take action toward a better future? We could end up sending ripples of "buoyant hope" and "positive interference" into the world. In this episode of The Heart Path Podcast, we talk with Eco Poet, Biologist, and Nature Writing Facilitator, Erin Robertson, about land partnerships, climate change, fire, and the resiliency of humanity when faced with the unknown. Erin Robertson is the author of What the River May Bring:  Impressions of Interior Alaska and the forthcoming Singed Seeds:  A Marshall Fire Year.  In 2017, Erin founded BoCo Wild Writers, her outdoor nature writing class offerings. Her poetry has been published in the North American Review, Cold Mountain Review, Poet Lore, Deep Wild, and elsewhere, and has been performed by Ars Nova Singers and The Crossing choir. She is the current Writer-in-Residence for Friends of Coal Creek, and past honors include being a guest artist hosted by the U.S. Consulate in Kazakhstan, Voices of the Wilderness Artist in Residence at Koyukuk National Wildlife Refuge in Galena, Alaska, Boulder County Artist in Residence at Caribou Ranch, and awards in the Front Range Book Prize, Michael Adams Poetry Prize, and Columbine Poets Members' Contest. Erin earned her Master of Science in Museum and Field Studies from the University of Colorado studying botany and environmental interpretation, and worked as a conservation biologist advocating for endangered species in the Rocky Mountain West for nine years. Her remarkable husband, two sons, parakeet, and pup teach her about wonder every day. Website: erinrobertson.org, wildwriters.org.  Instagram, Facebook:  @bocowildwritersSupport the show

In this episode, we explore imagery rooted in memory with Frontexto artist, poet, publisher, and instructor, Octavio Quintanilla. Octavio Quintanilla is the 2025 Texas Poet Laureate and the author of the poetry collections, If I Go Missing (Slough Press, 2014), The Book of Wounded Sparrows (Texas Review Press, 2024), which was longlisted for the National Book Award, and Las Horas Imposibles / The Impossible Hours, winner of the 2024 Ambroggio Prize of the Academy of American Poets (University of Arizona Press, 2025).  Octavio is the founder and director of the literature & arts festival, VersoFrontera, publisher of Alabrava Press, and former Poet Laureate of San Antonio, TX. His Frontextos (visual poems) have been published and exhibited widely. He teaches Literature and Creative Writing at Our Lady of the Lake University and was recently inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. Website: https://www.octavioquintanilla.com/IG: @writeroctavioquintanilla  Twitter: @OctQuintanilla  Support the show

In this episode of The Heart Path Podcast, we expand our minds, hearts, and rekindle creative spark with Poet and Author of Moonscape for a Child, Allie Rigby.  Allie Rigby is a poet with roots in the chaparral of Southern California. Moonscape for a Child is her debut poetry collection (Bored Wolves, 2024). Writing honors include a Fulbright Fellowship, a William Dickey Fellowship, and contribution to the annual Bread Loaf Writing Conference. Her poems and essays appear on Living on Earth Radio, WFIU’s The Poet’s Weave, Equatorial Literary Magazine, Parentheses Journal, and more. She has a master’s degree in English: Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She has taught at Ovidius University, Loft Literary Center, Point Reyes National Seashore Association, and for events with the US-Romanian Embassy. She is an editor for The SEEfest Review and the curator behind Living Poetry. You can find more of her work at www.allierigby.com. She's on IG @allie.j.rigby.Support the show

In this episode, we shed layers of self and society to embrace joy and wholeness in nature with author and wilderness guide, Larry Glover. Larry Glover is the author of Wild Joy: Ecospiritual Encounters with Nature as Teacher, Healer, and Lover; winner of two Gold Medals in the 2025 Global Book Awards. He aspires to discover what being human truly is, particularly in a paradoxical world woven of mystery and consciousness and fire and water and air and earth and spirit and soul too. He struggled from an early age with a madness that would destroy himself, which he came to recognize as a cultural story of separation and unworthiness for life. Larry now leans into our shared love of nature to inspire and deepen what it is to truly love the self, through his writing, speaking, coaching, workshops and wilderness retreats held in conjunction with the Cheryl Slover-Linett and the non-profit leadfeather.org. He is author of Wild Joy, Ecospiritual Encounters with Nature as Teacher, Healer, and Lover. Discover more of Larry’s writing and how to engage with him at larryglover.com and download a free gift: Healing the Jehovah Wound: A Path to Wholeness and Wild Joy.Support the show

In this episode, we cartwheel through life with Poet, Starr Paul, while we celebrate the one-year anniversary of her organization, Black Hills Writers Collective, and listen to her newest poems inspired by her pregnancy with Baby V. Starr Paul is a Black Hills based poet from Spearfish, South Dakota. Starr serves as the Founder and Co-director of The Black Hills Writers Collective, Host of the Arise Online Open Mic Series, and Board Member of the South Dakota State Poetry Society. She holds her M.F.A in Poetry from Western Colorado University. Her work can be found in the Santa Fe Literary Review, Literary Matters, The Last Stanza Poetry Journal, and the Three Peaks Review Literary Magazine.  Support the show

In this episode, we follow Derek Sheffield's travels through poetry, editing, and publishing and celebrate our connection with all living beings--both human and non-human. Guest bio: Derek Sheffield is the 8th poet laureate of Washington State (2025-2027). His books include Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry, winner of a 2024 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, Not for Luck, selected by Mark Doty for the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize, Through the Second Skin, runner-up for the Emily Dickinson First Book Award, and Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy. A two-time finalist for the Washington State Book Award, his other awards include the Foreword Reviews Indies Book of the Year in Nature Writing and the James Hearst Poetry Prize judged by Li-Young Lee.  He teaches at Wenatchee Valley College and Western Colorado University, edits poetry for Terrain.org, and can often be found in the woods along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range near Leavenworth, Washington. Support the show

In this episode, we celebrate Cheryl Slover-Linett's first published poetry collection, The Seduction of the Daughter in Fifteen Pieces, while we follow the muse, trust in the path, allow for vulnerability, value the healing process of writing, and learn more about Cheryl's wilderness retreat business, Lead Feather. If you are interested in joining Cheryl for one of her upcoming online readings, here are the links: Sunday, February 15th, 9am PT, 12pm ET, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88224296577?pwd=7tp2w4hNqK72pa7H5fbXYQcZ1bxoBE.1Wednesday, February 18th, 5pm PT, 8pm ET, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85316882585?pwd=TIAiH86raoywMPjaaAQWakKls7rb7y.1Poet Bio: Cheryl Slover-Linett (she/her) is a poet based in Santa Fe, NM. She is the author of The Seduction of the Daughter in Fifteen Pieces (dancing girl press 2025). Her poetry has been featured in Amethyst Review, Eunoia Review, River Mouth Review, Sky Island Journal, Foothill Poetry Journal and Hole In The Head Review, among others, and she has served on the editorial teams at Terrain.org and High Desert Journal. She received her MFA from Western Colorado University and also holds degrees from UCLA and Yale University. In addition to writing, she leads wilderness retreats through Lead Feather, the nature non-profit she founded in 2008, and spends as much time as she can on the rivers and in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Learn more about Cheryl’s work at leadfeather.org. Support the show

In this episode we follow bird migrations from Alaska to South Carolina, admire sunsets with strangers, and make stops along the way for raven and moose on a journey to Yosemite and Denali National Park and Preserve with J. Drew Lanham. Guest Bio: A native of Edgefield, South Carolina, J. Drew Lanham is the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, which received the Reed Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Southern Book Prize, and was a finalist for the John Burroughs Medal. He is a birder, naturalist, and hunter-conservationist who has published essays and poetry in publications including Orion, Audubon, Flycatcher, and Wilderness, and in several anthologies, including The Colors of Nature, State of the Heart, Bartram’s Living Legacy, and Carolina Writers at Home. An Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher at Clemson University, he and his family live in the Upstate of South Carolina, a soaring hawk’s downhill glide from the southern Appalachian escarpment that the Cherokee once called the Blue Wall. Support the show

In this episode, we listen to the story of writers, Kimberly and Joshua Williams--from how they met to how they create together as a couple. We also hear about Kimberly's memoir, "Haunted Bodies, Haunted Hearts," the practice of seasonal writing, red clay people, passed down recipes, and how family and land shape who we are today. Support the show

In this episode, we hear about Amy Irvine's new book, Almost Animal, and learn how we can expose roots of generational trauma to build a foundation of joyful resistance. Support the show

In this episode, we embark on a journey through words, rutted roads, writing workshops, and Idaho backcountry with author and teacher, CMarie Fuhrman. As we travel over uneven and rocky terrain, we learn how to trust in the unknown and continue moving forward until we find the magic. Support the show

In this episode, we reflect on our connection with nature, honor reciprocal relations with all living beings, and trade out fear and darkness for an "ocean of light and love" with Author and Botanist, Susan J. Tweit. Support the show

In this episode, we embark on a journey through wonder on and off the page with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. As we navigate through hardship and grief, we find infinite possibilities in the power of adjusting our minds and hearts to allow our paths to unfold. Support the show

"No matter where we are, the natural world is all around us." In this episode, we follow Deb Matlock's journey through Wild Rhythms and discover how we can strengthen our connection to our wild selves and the more than human world. Support the show

In this episode, we discuss the Rights of Nature Movement and how poetry, art, and action can be wielded as tools of resistance to protect what we love. Support the show

This week's episode leads us through beginner's mind, hollow bone, the long view, and practical poetry, as we journey through joy with Poet Laureate and Visual Artist, Wendy Videlock. Support the show

In this episode, we share ideas of how we can write a new story and paint a different picture of this world by envisioning change and acting toward solutions.Support the show