LINCOLN — Nebraska’s next state poet is a fixture around poetry slams and political events in the state’s largest city, having spoken beside mayors and members of Congress. But Jewel Rodgers of Omaha stepped on to a larger stage Monday, when Gov. Jim Pillen named her state poet and charged her with inspiring a new generation of Nebraska readers and writers.

Rodgers is the first Black Nebraskan to hold the five-year renewable post, which requires nominees to compete with finalists from across the state and be screened by the Nebraska Arts Council. Rodgers took a deep breath when asked what it means to be poet laureate of Nebraska. She credited others in her past who saw possibilities “she didn’t even know to be thinking about.” “For me … being the first African American woman to hold this position … is to show folks what’s possible, to instill a vision in them that they may not have had for themselves,” she said.

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