Visiting Camellias by Vanessa Zimmer-Powell

Vanessa Zimmer-Powell's poetry has appeared on the radio and in numerous journals and anthologies. Awards include first place winner of the 2017 and 2016 Houston Poetry Fest ekphrastic competitions, top honors in the 2017, 2019, and 2021 Friendswood Library ekphrastic poetry competitions, honorable mention in the 2023 ReelPoetry film festival, and finalist in the 2024 Mutabilis Press chapbook competition. Her chapbook, Woman Looks into an Eye is published by Dancing Girl Press. Her cinepoems have been shown at Gulf Coast Film Festival, ReelPoetry Film Festival, and the Copenhagen Nature & Culture International Film Festival. Her poem, Hole in the Sky,was part of the 2025 Ars Poetica II Juried Exhibition at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum.

Visiting Camellias

 

On my birthday, red winter camellias

bloom in my backyard. How they shock

the silvery bare trees with their color.

I visit them with my 90-year-old

father-in-law. They are portals

to a blessing. He shakily reaches

a large finger to the fullest flower.

How young she is, how green

her leaves. She has stolen

all of the color for miles

and shows off her power.

The wind winds up

our mountain,

swirls around us.

This is the best

gift, I say.

Yes, he says

and the color

becomes a part of us

for when there are no words

to express what we remember.