Jewel Rodgers
HPPR Poets on the Plains, Featured PoetJewel Rodgers is the 2025–2029 Nebraska State Poet, a 2025 Academy of American Poets Fellowship recipient, and a 2025 AIRIES Fellow. A three-time Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award nominee for Best Performance Poet and a three-time TEDx speaker, she is a nationally touring interdisciplinary performer and spatial practitioner. Jewel merges art, storytelling, and placemaking to inspire and connect audiences across the U.S. and beyond. https://www.jewelrodgers.com/
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My name is Jewell Rodgers and today I bring you the poems of Noni Williams. Noni is one of my favorite people. I met her in Omaha, Nebraska. Noni Williams is a senior cloud data engineer, a teaching artist, an independent data consultant, a storyteller, a mathematician, a philosopher, and of course - a performance poet - born and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska. -
My name is Jewel Rogers and I am your state poet of Nebraska. Today we are introducing some poetry from Natalie G’Schwind whom I met in Broken Bow, Nebraska during a Homegrown event. Anyway, Natalie was one of the readers at Homegrown – a series of intimate readings and art shares across the great state of Nebraska held in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. -
My name is Jewell Rodgers and I am the State Poet of Nebraska. This week I bring to you M. Timothy Nolting who is also, much like one of my other favorite poets Natalie G’Schwind –– a cowboy poet. I met him in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, during my State Poet travels. -
My name is Jewell Rodgers and I am the State Poet of Nebraska and this week we are bringing Gina Tranisi to the stage. Gina is a poet, educator, and lifelong Nebraskan. She is a grants manager with Fox Creek Fundraising and is proud to help nonprofits grow their financial capacity and do more good in the community. -
My name is Jewell Rodgers and I am the State Poet of Nebraska.Today we are hearing from Angélica Perez. Angélica is a Core Teaching Artist with the Nebraska Writers Collective, where she supports Teaching Artists and young poets, helps to run monthly open mics and slams in Omaha, and leads poetry workshops with incarcerated people throughout Nebraska. -
My name is Jewel Rodgers and I am your state Poet of Nebraska and I am going to read my poem Bloom for you. I wrote this poem with the intention of keeping it grounded in very concrete items—hibiscus, rose, agave, domino tables, spades, soup kitchens, city halls. I wanted it to move from the intimacy of tending to oneself to tending to an entire community.
