You are invited to Friendswood
Public Library's Off the Page Poetry Series. A poetry reading with
award-winning poets Terry Jude Miller, Vanessa Zimmer-Powell, and UHCL professor
Dr. John Gorman.
Wednesday, November 6th at 7pm
Growth
Walking
by the clustered ginger
I
knew I should have it
if
not for words alone
to
celebrate how it rolled off my tongue
to
say it softly
ginger clustered
yellow green
It
grows wild
you
have to cut it back
create
a frame
tame
it
so
that it doesn't spread
but
my eye likes it long, endless out of control
fields
of clustered ginger
I
think of the wild blackberries
that
I fought against in my back yard
the
more I crushed them
the
hardier they became
strangling
what I chose to plant
It
wasn't until Hurricane Ike arrived
drowning
everything in salt
that
I missed them
and
wished I would have enjoyed
more
of their tart sweet black fruit
~Vanessa
Zimmer-Powell
Vanessa Zimmer-Powell is a lover of
language, literature, and poetry, who was born in New Orleans. She holds a
Bachelor of Arts with a major in English from the University of Texas at
Austin, a Bachelor of Sciences with a major in Communication Sciences and
Disorders from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master's Degree in
Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Texas at Austin.
She works as a speech and language pathologist in Houston. When she is not
working, she enjoys writing poetry, doing yoga, swing dancing, playing as an
aerialist in fabric, and enjoying art in Houston. Vanessa is a member of the
Houston “Poets in the Loop”. Recent publications include the 2013 Austin
International Poetry Festival Anthology, di-verse-city, the 2013 summer
edition of Harbinger Asylum, the 2013 Round Top Poetry Festival
Anthology, and the 2011 & 2013 Houston Poetry Fest Anthology. She was published in the 2013 fall
edition of The Avocet, and was also a 2013 juried poet at the Houston
Poetry Fest. She has been a featured reader at each
reading of the Rice Gallery “Words and Art” reading series. Prior to moving to
Houston in 2010 she hosted the poetry open mic at Mod Coffee Shop in Galveston,
and was a member of the Galveston, “Poets Round Table.”
