Yahya. Yaz. Yazmenne.

All these names, all these selves, are housed in one body. She does not find comfort in them being gargled in every mouth, yet she is just now tasting the sweetness that comes from each one in hers. She has meditated on Yaz for the majority of her life, but she may be returning soon to her born name. Yazmenne is just as incomplete as the rest of them, and somehow she enacts a different kind of embodiment. After her studies at CalArts, she has contended the most with which self she shall slither into the skin of next.

It is not uncommon for Yahya to slither as the slime of her work is trekked in and out of the living and non-living realms. She seeks sanctuary in the homes of death, loss and grief. There, she wavers in what it means to be alive and to address oneself wholly. She is direct and revealing in her work, yet do not confuse that with abrasion or confession. If the shoe fits, be well.

For Yazmenne, art is a means of giving both to oneself and to others, and her debut collection is but a part in this continuation. In addition to writing, Yazmenne serves as the Youth Outreach Coordinator for Street Poets Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching healing through poetry to youth.