Honoring Chef Yulanda
By Evolve Benton
Chef Yulanda Illustration was created on adobe draw by Evolve Benton after learning of Chef Yulanda’s death. Evolve uses art as a form of healing. This illustration is the first step in accepting, celebrating and honoring the life of their black queer ancestor.
chef cooked the meals
fed us bois confidence
fed us bois freedom
This is what black boi
life feel like
kale sautéed in all that
black boi joy
chef wore black
chef was the sky
we brown bois
the stars, smiles traveled
miles, nourished by the gifts
I see the boi in the mirror
witness how breath leaves
the body
how food loves the body
how hands massage the grub
how our ancestors passed this love
in recipe, in tongues, like griots
of the kitchen
we be Gods of flavor
but what does freedom taste like?
the revolution can’t
be microwaved, we need a
stovetop and oven
can’t open our minds
to change, with empty bellies
so we turn to you
bliss us away, simply
Evolve Benton is a black, queer artist from Los Angeles, CA. Evolve has had the opportunity to spit poems across the United States and lives by the quote, “I write to live, and I live to write.” Evolve found their poetic voice and passion for poetry in New Orleans, LA where they attended Dillard University. Evolve earned their MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles. Evolve’s poetry has been published in the Dillard Review (2008), Trans bodies, Trans Selves (2014) and Outside the XY: Black and Brown Masculinity (2016). Evolve currently resides in the Oakland, CA with their lovely partner and six year old yorkie. Learn more about Evolve at evolvebenton.com.
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