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 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.