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Yalonda JD Green

Website
Years: 2010

Biography

Yalonda JD Green is a poet, performing songwriter, scholar, and educator from Detroit, MI currently working on her creative dissertation in University of Louisville’s Humanities PhD program. She holds a BA in Literature (with Creative Writing emphasis) from Kentucky State University and an MA in Communication (with emphases in Rhetoric & Cultural Studies) from Wake Forest University. Some of her work appears in Reverie, TORCH, and Mythium. Her piece "Synapse" (with painting by Violine Antoine) was also displayed at the Metro Louisville bus shelter on the corner of Muhammad Ali & Floyd streets as part of the Shelter Art & Poetry collaborative. Yalonda’s alter-ego, JD Green, is an indie jazz|soul|funk musician. Her debut album, Diurnal: Movements, was released in June 2010. Yalonda lives (and jams) in Louisville, KY.

Poem

Strange Fruit

She is slumped, her gaze

distant, downcast eyes

simple ponytail, sparkling knit gown—

her only accompaniment

the pianist & her rage

Her twisted mouth is spit, acid

her voice clangs & scrapes each clipped line;

all wail & grimace,

she leans into the southern wind

& suspends herself there

until the piano’s final, sudden pluck

Billie is singing “Strange Fruit,”

& I am breathing the burning flesh

as my daddy hangs there

I know it is him by

the sole of his one shoe, tatters of a once-

starched work-shirt

the simple wedding band embedded

in the purpled meat of his left hand

but not by his face,

gnarled &

blacked by boots & flames

I have seen it—

wretched

char & ruin; what

was lovely

is now pulp, carcass,

peculiar wretched crop

After she has sung me sorrowful

& fit to kill,

Billie the crows & I wait

for the sweet, disgusting fruit

to drop.

“By the time I leave a CC Retreat, I can feel that the internal imperative to Write! has shifted from an obsessive, isolating quality to one of deep communal rites and responsibilities – what healthier transition exists for an artist?

Geffrey Davis

2015-11-26T15:51:22-04:00

Geffrey Davis

“By the time I leave a CC Retreat, I can feel that the internal imperative to Write! has shifted from an obsessive, isolating quality to one of deep communal rites and responsibilities – what healthier transition exists for an artist?

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/geffrey-davis/

“There is nothing like being seen by the eyes of those who, without explanation, understand why you do what you do when you do it. There is nothing like not having to decode or apologize for the sweet pleasure of a word or phrase that will not let loose of your ear.”

Nikky Finney, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South

2015-11-26T15:29:19-04:00

Nikky Finney, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South

“There is nothing like being seen by the eyes of those who, without explanation, understand why you do what you do when you do it. There is nothing like not having to decode or apologize for the sweet pleasure of a word or phrase that will not let loose of your ear.”

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/nikky-finney-the-ringing-ear-black-poets-lean-south/

“While I can't even begin to measure Cave Canem's value to me personally (community, friendship, rigor), we all can see the radical movement it’s occasioned in American poetry. To be plain: it's changed—and is changing—the face(s) of our literary landscape. How often in our lives will we be able to participate in something as important and beautiful? It's a joy to support this."

Ross Gay, Fellow

2015-11-26T15:44:48-04:00

Ross Gay, Fellow

“While I can't even begin to measure Cave Canem's value to me personally (community, friendship, rigor), we all can see the radical movement it’s occasioned in American poetry. To be plain: it's changed—and is changing—the face(s) of our literary landscape. How often in our lives will we be able to participate in something as important and beautiful? It's a joy to support this."

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/285/

“Cave Canem is a kind of heaven, yes. It’s not just that we are speaking to each other there as black people; it’s that we’ve lived the lives of black poets. We’ve faced the fears, the hurts, and we’re still poets. To undertake and stay with this task, usually so unrewarded, creates a kind of strength and compassion that is enormous.”

Toi Derricotte

2015-11-26T15:31:58-04:00

Toi Derricotte

“Cave Canem is a kind of heaven, yes. It’s not just that we are speaking to each other there as black people; it’s that we’ve lived the lives of black poets. We’ve faced the fears, the hurts, and we’re still poets. To undertake and stay with this task, usually so unrewarded, creates a kind of strength and compassion that is enormous.”

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/toi-derricotte/

“Back in 2000 when I was first accepted at Cave Canem, I was working part-time at a bookstore making less than $7 an hour. The scholarship I received was the only reason I was able to attend, and it changed my writing life by introducing me to mentors like Toi Derricotte and Nikky Finney and eventually connecting me to the editor who published my first book. Please consider changing another poet's life by supporting Cave Canem financially.”

Traci Dant, Fellow

2015-11-26T15:44:16-04:00

Traci Dant, Fellow

“Back in 2000 when I was first accepted at Cave Canem, I was working part-time at a bookstore making less than $7 an hour. The scholarship I received was the only reason I was able to attend, and it changed my writing life by introducing me to mentors like Toi Derricotte and Nikky Finney and eventually connecting me to the editor who published my first book. Please consider changing another poet's life by supporting Cave Canem financially.”

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/284/