Cover of nature gurl album. Yolanda Wisher in the Wissahickon Valley Park at Kitchen’s Lane in Philadelphia. Photograph by Mark Anthony Palacio. Design by M Slater.
nature gurl, the second album of Yolanda Wisher and The Afroeaters, is a playful and spiritual romp through the wilderness of the poet’s imagination and encounters with animals, both real and in dreams. The poems of nature gurl were inspired by Wisher’s love of walking in the woods and her poetic documentation of experiences with animals in the Catskills, in the Wissahickon Valley Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her backyard in the Germantown neighborhood of the city. nature gurl was produced by Wisher in collaboration with Afroeaters Paul Giess and Mark Palacio. The trio met for almost two years on Wednesday nights in Wisher and Palacio’s dining room in Germantown to craft sonic landscapes in response to Wisher’s poems. The album is a family affair, featuring appearances by Wisher and Palacio’s son Thelonious and Wisher’s mother, Yvonda. Acclaimed pianist and composer Kendrah Butler-Waters offers a stunning solo on the title track. nature gurl ponders the shared frequencies of humans and animals and revels at the creature within all of us. The album revolves around the recorded words of Wisher’s mother, Yvonda, who has a deep love for animals and a special gift for communicating with them. For Wisher, a nature gurl is a mother and a daughter of the earth, both a dangerous rebel and an endangered species, who answers the call to the wildness inside and out. The album is now available for preorder in digital and vinyl formats on Bandcamp. nature gurl will be released on Earth Day, April 22, 2026.
Doublehanded Suite, the debut album of Yolanda Wisher & The Afroeaters, was released in 2022 and sponsored by The Rosenbach, a historic house museum in Philadelphia. The album comes out of the event series, Yolanda Wisher's Rent Party that has taken place at The Rosenbach since 2017. The series invokes the tradition of the rent party dating back to the Harlem Renaissance, when communal gatherings of artists fed an outpouring of blues, jazz, and poetry. Like the series, Doublehanded Suite is a love letter to the literary past, focusing on writers with Philly connections and/or those whose work has been lost, forgotten, or misunderstood. The album skips along the continuum between past and present, poetry and song. The Afroeaters on this album include V. Shayne Frederick (keys/piano), Lance Gamble (drums/percussion), Paul Giess (trumpet/trumpet effects), and Mark Palacio (double bass/electric bass). Doublehanded Suite was recorded by Tyler McClure, with assistance from Gianni Brown, at WRTI-FM. The album was mixed by Michael Cumming and mastered by Tom Scheponik. Cover photography by Kielinksi Photographers. Cover design by M Slater. Wardrobe/Styling by Kate Fry. Hair by Syreeta Scott, Duafe Holistic Hair Care. Makeup by Terrell Maurice Carr. The album is available in digital and vinyl formats on Bandcamp and is also available on major streaming platforms.
Cover photography by Kielinksi Photographers. Cover design by M Slater.
Cover design by Douglas Kearney.
Monk Eats an Afro: Yolanda Wisher’s first book of poems, published by Hanging Loose Press in 2014. Available from Hanging Loose Press. Reviews: Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene, Coldfront, Goodreads, and Publisher's Weekly. Cover design by Douglas Kearney.
Individual Poems:
"5 South 43rd Street, Floor 2": Sometimes we would get hungry for the neighborhood.
"American Valentine": Phillis to Obour,/Valentine's Day 1776./Her lacerating ink...
"bird-poem (after biggers)": we all just birds callin & respondin. melodic & paper thin.
"black beauty": look—like fugitive buckshot/like a silent, stuttering reel/like a mad black mass...
“Color Haiku #1”: blue monk with a trace of greensleeves…
"Dear John Letter to America": America, you beautiful suitor of indigenous bitches.
"From Imhotep's Kundalini": what thoughts I have of you tonight, Du Bois...
“germantown avenue speaks”: school to school/the dark writes itself
"A Letter to the President-Elect and All of US": Dear Co-Pilot(s) of These Upper Ethers & Downy Domains...
"Love is Like a Faucet": these vitamin double ds/gonna put cows outta business.
"A Love Letter to Philadelphia": Dear Philly,/Sonia always puts the words "a place called" before your name.
“no more grandma poems”: they said/forget your grandma
"Poets Bill of Rites/Rights": poets have r.i.t.e.s./poets have r.i.g.h.t.s...
"Ruby Flo": some folks like to plug her up/but she's the only woman i wait for...
"sonnet with cooking lexicon": we met a fish fry poetry reading inside the food truck of life.
“The Ballad of Laura Nelson”: Mama Laura/hangs from the eave/of a bridge…
"Tin Woman's Lament": i’d rather have/an agogô for a heart...
"Vines": I grew up in libraries/sacred spaces like churches...
“west of philly”: they asked me to write a poem like a lush life…
“We Were Born To Be Kissed in the Dark”: Let us recite an irreverent prayer for the club, the disco, the spot.
“The Window Keeper”: The Declaration of Independence/Is a giant window…