off the page poetry series on Wednesday. November 6. 7pm

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.”