Right there in the front yard?

Abstract

Right there in the front yard? James Jabar (bio) In an interview with NPR, Brenda Graham recounts her experience after her brother was accused in the 1958 "Kissing Case" in Monroe, North Carolina. Yes; right there in the front yard where daddylonglegs skipped across blades of grass, dripping in white mob sweat from the night before; right there in the front yard whereChrist's wooden frame was lit in the devil's glory by no god-fearing Christians; right there where lightning- bugs dodged burning embers & cicadasharmonized with the bass of the flames; right there in the front yard my mother dug a grave for the dog where his bullet-torn body was mangled;in the front yard I found them every morning; my mother & neighbors sweeping bullets that died hunting my brother, off our front porch; right thereI watched my brother disappear, I watched him never come back, his name erased by something blacker; right there is where it all happened,in that yard, where lips were laid to rest on chestnut colored-cheeks in an innocent game of kissing. [End Page 120] Click for larger view View full resolution Illustrations by Phil Blank. [End Page 121] James Jabar JAMES JABAR is a Greensboro, North Carolina native, currently a lecturer in poetry at UNC Greensboro and adjunct instructor at Guilford Technical Community College. His poetry can be seen in Freshwater Review, Minnesota Review, and his most recent chapbook, Whatever Happened to Black Boys? (Texas Review Press, 2020). Copyright © 2021 Center for the Study of the American South