Author Spotlight: June Jordan, Poet of the People

I think you better join with me to agitate

and agitate for justice and

equality we can eat

and pay the rent with

NOW.

June Jordan, "Jim Crow: The Sequel"

On July 9th, 2020, we celebrate what would be the 84th birthday of June Jordan, whose writing is as relevant as ever.

When the library closed in mid-March, June Jordan’s poetry took refuge in my apartment along with Mary Oliver, Maggie Smith, Gwendolyn Brooks and me. I’m not sure how many days I surrendered in this manner, looking at poetry while sheltered-in-place, but Jordan’s writing provided companionship that I found heartening throughout. In the beginning months, her critics and lyricisms were refreshing. Later, during the continued fight for liberation, I found invaluable insight. With the Fourth of July just behind us, Jordan’s work continues to expose the shortfallings of freedom in our country and her reputation as “Poet of the People” endures.

Jordan was born in Harlem in 1963 and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant. It was her lifelong dedication to activism and the poetry program she founded at UC Berkeley that dubbed her the “Poet of the People”, although her peers saw her as more than a poet. Adrienne Rich, describes her in the foreword to Jordan’s book, Haruko/Love Poems, as an “artist, teacher, social critic, visionary of human solidarity”. It is perhaps because she embodied all of these roles so well that she remains as potent a voice today as ever she was. Indeed, her work pins down injustice in a way that has become frustratingly timeless. This is palpable in her essay, “The Light of the Fire”, in which she reflects on the 'not guilty' verdict returned for the cops who beat Rodney King. And her work doesn’t solely focus on the U.S.: she commemorates those who stood up to injustice around the world. Her “Poem for South African Women'' announces “we are the ones we have been waiting for," to the protesters of aparthied. These sentiments of fighting for equality endure today and are woven throughout much of her work. They are also found in “Poem about My Rights" and “Poem about Police Violence”, both of which are published in her Collected Poems.

Apart from giving voice to injustice, Jordan engages readers of all ages with her poems, essays, and children’s books. An author I found in school, she has remained relatable throughout my life, especially during the unpredictability of these past few months. As the world starts opening and I make my way back to the library, June Jordan’s writing will continue to embody the solidarity for which I strive. Maybe it will for you as well? With this hope in mind, I leave you with three of her books that you can access online. However you are processing these current events, I recommend spending at least one day with the "Poet of the People."

Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan

Beginning with her first book of poetry and ending with the unpublished manuscript upon which she was working at the time of her death, Directed by Desire includes over 400 of Jordan’s poems. She addresses topics from sexuality to police brutality, to foreign policy and Eminem. 

I’m the Slim Lady the real Slim Lady

the real Slim Lady just a little ole lady

uh-huh

uh-huh

I’m Slim Lady the real Slim Lady

all them other age ladies

just tryin to page me

but I’m Slim Lady the real Slim Lady

and I will

stand up

I will stand up

 

I assume that you fume while the

dollar bills bloom

and you magnify scum while the

critics stay mum

and you anguish and languish runnin

straight to the bank...

 

From “Owed to Eminem”

Some of Us Did Not Die: New and Selected Essays of June Jordan

Jordan’s essays give insight into her life and poetry. Being able to delve deeper into her thoughts is a gift to many concerned with liberation.

We are not powerless. We are indispensable despite all atrocities of state and corporate policy to the contrary. At a minimum we have the power to stop cooperating with our enemies. We have the power to stop the courtesies and to let the feelings be real. We have the power not to vote, and not to register for the draft, and not to applaud, and not to attend, and not to buy, and not to pay taxes or rent or utilities. At the very least, if we cannot control things we certainly can mess them up.

“Some of Us Did Not Die”

His Own Where

If you’d like to see Jordan’s lyricism at work in a novel, check out this young adult love story. It’s a quick read at under 100 pages and was a New York Times Most Outstanding Book.

Buddy and Angela keep track of daytime just by figuring out the last and next time they will come together and how long alone. They become the heated habit of each other.

“His Own Where”, June Jordan
 

For more poetry, please check out Poetry is for Everyone: A Poetry Month Booklist, and BPL’s Literary Prize for Fiction/Poetry and Nonfiction Booklist.