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a June Jordan portfolio
- from Who Look at Me
- If You Saw a Negro Lady
- What Would I Do White
- These Poems
- One Minus One Minus One
- I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies
- Poem for South African Women
- Alla Tha's All Right, but
- Poem about My Rights
- Poem for Nana
- First Poem After Serious Surgery
- The Bombing of Baghdad
- Poem to Take Back the Night
- It's Hard to Keep a Clean Shirt Clean
- contact
- books
Table of Contents Foreword by Adrienne Rich Who Look at Me (1969) Some Changes (1971) New Days: Poems of Exile and Return (1974) Things That I Do in the Dark (1977) Passion (1980) Living Room (1985) Naming Our Destiny (1989) Haruko/Love Poems (1994) Kissing God Goodbye (1997) Last Poems (1997-2001) Excerpt See a June Jordan portfolio Press "Directed by Desire is a handsome book, as one expects from Copper Canyon.... Jordan displays without fail her major strengths. Those strengths—a propulsive way with the line and an emotional stance of intensity—are employed to wide-ranging effect. They can appear in sharp bursts.... Or the rhythms can expand and the intensity turn mystic in a mode reminiscent of parable.... Or they can be used to pacifist purpose in revising one of America's poetic chestnuts.... Jordan aims to inspire her readers, not merely fill them with rarefied air." —Harvard Review “Directed by Desire...is not only the story of the development of a poet as her voice evolves and distills in its power and craft, but also the story of progressive political struggles.... Jordan always has the voice of the people in her work. She captures stories and diction and language to document and bring hope to our lives.... Jordan’s work is substantial and having it all collected in a single volume creates great possibilities for discovery of both her poetic voice and also the history and stories she committed to telling.” —Sinister Wisdom “Jordan’s poems are marked by an unmistakable energy.... [Her] insight develops alternately through confession and observation in language alternately intense and comical, sincere and sarcastic.” —Art Voice “This substantial collected volume...present(s) the warrior voice and vision of a writer dedicated to criticizing inequity of all kinds, and confidently revealing the path of her desires.... Wherever people were silenced, cruelties concealed, or lies promoted, Jordan shouted out, exposing what needed to be seen.... Directed by Desire is an important addition to African American or feminist poetry collections, but more importantly, it is a powerful addition to the entire canon of American poetry.” —Booklist “Directed by Desire is rich with...moments of startling clarity and self-revelation. By turns dark and sardonic, outraged and amused, these poems are the testament to Jordan’s vitality and intellectual rigor.” —The Empty Closet "This ample collection concludes with 62 pages of 'last poems': several concern the cancer that took Jordan's life, and one of the best sasses back at Eminem. Adrienne Rich's foreword praises this 'most personal of political poets' for her verbal power and for her commitment to justice: her loyal following will certainly agree." ---Publishers Weekly “This poet’s sensitive eye moved across a lifetime of experiences without blinking.” —San Francisco Chronicle “[June Jordan’s] work is in the great stream of American populism, from Walt Whitman to Carl Sandburg, to Langston Hughes and Lucille Clifton and beyond. [Jordan’s poetry] also is highly individual, passionate and searches for justice, but it’s also remarkably tender.... Indeed, Jordan is a poet who doesn’t blink, either looking at beauty or at social realities.... This poetry, like all good political poetry...constructs a view of the world that may be critical but that essentially is loving. This ability to hold more than one view of reality at a time is Jordan’s gift to her readers.” —Santa Fe New Mexican |