His Own Where was one of the first novels for young readers written entirely in Black English; in 1971 it was named as one of The New York Times' Most Outstanding Books, placed on the American Library Association's list of Best Books, and nominated for the National Book Award. It tells the story of Buddy, a troubled 15-year-old boy, and Angela, whose angry parents accuse her of being "wild." When life falls apart for Buddy and Angela is attacked at home, they take action to create their own way of staying alive in Brooklyn.
Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan gathers the work from Jordan's ten books of poetry and includes 70 never-before-published poems are a tender, fierce, and innovative series that she wrote before her death.
As Adrienne Rich writes in her "Foreword": "June Jordan . . . wrote from her experience in a woman's body and a dark skin, though never solely 'as' or 'for.' Sharply critical of nationalism, separatism, chauvinism of all kinds, as tendencies toward narrowness and isolation, she was too aware of democracy's failures to embrace false integrations. Her poetic sensibility was kindred to Blake's scrutiny of innocence and experience; to Whitman's vision of sexual and social breadth; to Gwendolyn Brooks' and Romare Bearden's portrayals of ordinary black people's lives; to James Baldwin's expression of the bitter contradictions within the republic."
Soulscript: A Collection of Classic African American Poetry
Soulscript is a collection compiled by June Jordan "according to the dictates of the heart." Here, in the work of luminaries like Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Ishmael Reed, Claude McKay and Richard Wright--as well as in her own poems--Jordan's hopeful challenge brings cherished history into a common future.
Staceyann Chin, celebrated spoken word poet and cast member of Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, in her new foreword to the book, introduces June Jordan's legacy to a new generation. The forthright activism and sheer beauty of the verse in Soulscript are as compelling today as they were in 1970, and are vividly relevant to the "now" of today's cities, poets, and African-American communities
