Product Description
A posthumous collection of the essays of June Jordan,noted for its "love of language" and "expression of social identity"(Reamy Jansen, San Francisco Chronicle) Some of Us Did NotDie brings together a rich sampling of the late poet June Jordan'sprose writings. The essays in this collection, which include her lastwritings and span the length of her extraordinary career, revealJordan as an incisive analyst of the personal and public costs ofremaining committed to the ideal and practice of democracy. Willing toventure into the most painful contradictions of American culture andpolitics, Jordan comes back with lyrical honesty, wit, andwide-ranging intelligence in these accounts of her reckoning with lifeas a teacher, poet, activist, and citizen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

More than words....
This is an excellent piece of literary art. June Jordan, quite frankly, "makes love to the English language." This is how I describe the writing in this book. It is rare that I feel connected to any author in the way that I feel emotionally and spiritually connected to Ms. Jordan, through her writing. It is the first work of hers that I picked up. At the time, I was unaware that she had passed away from breast cancer. She will be missed but I am confident that her words and legacy will never be forgotten.

A loss to the world
A poet, an activist, a writer and a teacher, June Jordan died in 2002.

It is somewhat depressing to read these essays, some of them years old, and realize how little events have improved or changed. Her essay on Palestine's children is one such example.The title of her book refers to the attacks on September 11th, and she ranges over subjects such as poverty, racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, rape and far too many of the horrors of the world. Articulate and passionate, Jordan brings a keen creative mind to her subjects and strangely enough, considering her subjects, a feeling of optimism.

Reading Jordan does give one some hope for the future and the fervent wish for more of her ilk. An original, creative mind, she is sorely missed.

A luminous voice that is missed...
June Jordan was many things: woman, Mother, friend, poet activistessayist. She excelled, apparantly, at each. She died earlier this year from breast cancer. She left us this final testament, a group of essays that touch on allof her abiding concersn: race, poetry,feminism, anit-semitism, The plight of the Palestinian refugees, breast cancer,militarism, rape[agonizingly, she had been rapes. Twice!},Martin Luther King, Jr. and his womanising...She touched on each of these subjects in essays, rails about the lack of spending in research in breast cancer, goes to a LA synagogue for Shabbat service after a psychotic gunmen had opened fire at a Jewish day care centre,speaks about her son and his childhood friend, Daniel Pearl, who had been brutally murdered in pakistan,wonders aloud about the racial implication of the 2000 election and the curiopus way it was handled in Fla., speaks on rape in blunt,terrifying fashion. June jordan was a superb writer, and a better human being. the world is emptier without her light and wisdom, though as succor we have her essays and poems, for which I, for one, am so damn grateful. Highly recommended ... Read more

Product Description
This is a memoir of the author's childhood in America.Amazon.com Review
"There was a war on against colored people," June Jordan recalls her father telling her. "I had to become a soldier." Jordan's fierce, funny, lyrical memoir of her first 12 years reveals the seeds of her adult poetry in her childhood experiences: the magical sounds of words in the nursery rhymes her mother crooned, the awareness nearly from birth of the bitter complexities of family relations. Jordan's father (depicted in a brilliantly nuanced portrait) was a proud Jamaican immigrant who encouraged his daughter to read and took her to museums and to Carnegie Hall, but also called her "damn black devil child" and beat her for the slightest misstep. He moved his family from a Harlem housing project to their own home in Brooklyn, enrolled June at a white boarding school, and fought savagely with his wife, who argued, "The child is a Black girl ... you gwine to make her afraid to be sheself!" Jordan reproduces the rhythms of West Indian speech as vividly as she captures African American culture of the 1930s and '40s in a poignant autobiography that, for all its racial particularity, tells an all-American story of the charged emotional legacy bequeathed by parents striving to give their children a better life. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

I really liked this book.
I will be interested to read some of this authors poetry. Her memoir read like a free verse poem--or a prose. The author had a very smooth way of writing and I was left with wanting to read more about her life. Once I could sit down and read it..I read it completely. I will begin my search for the author and what else she has written right now. Happy reading!:)

This is a woman I'd like to know.
I don't read autobiographies because they're usually self-serving. I wait until someone with distance does justice to a life.

Soldier, though, is the exception to my rule. June Jordan is able to look back over what seems a chaotic and sometimes cold, cruel childhood, and put it into the context of her life.

The style is many times lyrical and poetic. The words draw you in and keep you reading. The story works back and forth between what's actually happening to June, the child, and what she's thinking about as it unfolds. It's quite different from most autobiographies.

While I understand her father's quest to make sure his child is never a victim, his methods seem too brutal for words. It was a different time, and reality for an African-American is different, too, but reading about it is grueling.

I did have a problem with the fact that June's memories seem much too clear. I may be missing the point, but I don't know anyone who can remember her childhood with such clarity and from the age of six months. Perhaps this is literacy license. If so, fine. The problem, then, is mine.

No matter, this book is a fabulous read. I whipped through it in two hours.

A childhood testimony of courage and perserverance
June Jordan, African American Studies professor at UC Berkeley, haswritten a moving testament to her chaotic, challenging, and bittersweetchildhood.This memoir written in a poetic manner is reminiscent of SandraCisneros' "House on Mango Street".The daughter of West Indianimmigrants who revered education andhard work, she endured almost dailyverbal assaults on her gender and physical abuse from her father.He wason one hand a supporter of Marcus Garvey and on the other hand felt theneed to put down the American black at every turn.Her mother was asubmissive, silent woman who realized that her daughter was her husband'sson.Jordan's memories of the people who made an impact on her life andcharacter, her Nanny, her Uncle Teddy, her camp friend, Jodi along withtales of childhood death-defying accidents, academic excellence, and firstcrushes are just bits and parts that serve to make this memoir a compellingread.

Charming and Powerful
Sure to be a classic. A wonderfully charming and moving series of memories, observations, and poetic passages about a childhood at turns sweet, innocent, and difficult. Sometimes children make the most clear-eyedand wise observers, and it is the rare adult, such as June Jordan, who canrecapture and communicate the experience of childhood in both its wonderand bewilderment. Although the elements of Jordan's childhood are specific- 19302/1940s, brusque, occaisionally-violent immigrant father, Harlem andBrooklyn neighborhoods, racial and social inequity - the themes areuniversal. Wonderful!

Excellent, simply excellent.
Over the past 40 years civil rights has come a long way and progress has been made in areas that makes life easier. But imagine if you had to struggle with poor education, terrible living conditions, and evensegregation. Now imagine trying to get ahead in a world and society thatwas making all this an impossible task.

June Jordan takes you on a twelveyear journey through the eyes of one person who life was given thesecircumstances and somehow managed to succeed and become one of the mostsuccessful people, her own. June Jordan tells a story through words andpoems that has you stopping and thinking throughout the entire 260pages.

The book is one of the first I have read that makes a clearrepresentation of how a child caught up in turmoil can block out what theysee and find something good in the life they have been given. Jordan'sability to capture the reader makes this book one of the most impressive Ihave read so far this year.

After reading this book and seeing how thetough and often overbearing father along with the serine and religiousmother were at odds, I gained a deeper understating of how difficult itmust have been for any African American to try to make and succeed in thewhite man's world.

Jordan has written several other books and has wona number of prestigious awards over the years. I found this book enjoyableand easy to read. Take time out and follow through the 12 years with achild who I found dealt with the same things I did as a child, only Jordanhad them magnified. An excellent book! ... Read more

Product Description
Piercingly intuitive, eloquent, and caustic, Affirmative Acts is an address to the social, economic, racial, and political conflicts that mar the otherwise beautiful human experience.

In this new collection of political essays, Jordan explores the confusion of an America in the grip of pseudo-multiculturalism and political intolerance. Continuing in the tradition of her classic collections Civil Wars and Technical Difficulties, Jordan acquaints readers with moments of American life threatened by social negligence and economic despair. With her characteristic insight, Jordan unveils how these too-frequent bouts of civil unrest bring out the weakest parts of the American spirit and challenges readers to remain inspired as society approaches the millennium.
June Jordan's wisdom shines through in this brilliant collection of inspirational essays, which will be eagerly awaited by Jordan loyalists and enjoyed by her new readers.Amazon.com Review
Activist, poet, essayist, and professor June Jordan collectssome of her most provocative essays from the 1990s in AffirmativeActs, a book that, like Civil Wars and TechnicalDifficulties, showcases her ability to appeal to a wide range ofreaders, covering topics like politics, race relations, theintersections between activism and passion, women's health care, andaffirmative-action debates.

Jordan articulates complex and uncompromising points of view withoutalienating her readers in a swirl of jargon and tired politicalrhetoric.In the title essay, she writes: "I'm saying that calculatedracialization of poverty, inequality, immigration, and educationcolors these realities so that too many of us perceive these issues asstrictly equivalent to this or that race/this or that language/this orthat ethnic heritage when, actually, the issue is how we ... devise ademocratic, and peaceable, means to go on, or not!" Before sheexplains her proposed solutions, Jordan follows this sentiment with asimple observation: "It would seem we'd better get busy."

With essays like "We Are All Refugees," "My Mess and Ours," and "Noteson a Model of Resistance," Affirmative Acts places a humanvoice behind the cold facts of injustice, combining prose and poetryin an irreverent, conversational tone.Jordan espouses an earnestperspective informed by the spirit of collectivism, activism, socialconsciousness, respect, and hope. --Amy Wan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a tragedy
this is an amazing volume of poetry. It's tragic that it's out of print.this is June Jordan's poetry at it's best. it includes the amazing "poem about my rights"I want it so bad I'm tempted to tell thelibrary I lost it, but I won't because everyone needs to read this. ... Read more

Product Description
"She is the universal poet" (Alice Walker) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

broth for the modern soul
This is simply a swell collections of poems.Some are sweet, others painful.All are provoking.

The Heartbeat of a Lover's Soul
June Jordan's poetry beats furiously in the name of love: for Haruko, for life, for real.Since the human language is inadequate to truly express this emotion, Jordan manipulates and bends the written word to fit thehuman heart.When she describes love as "yes directed by desire"("When I or Else"), she speaks the living truth.

Read"Free Flight", "Roman Poem Number Five" and "12:01A.M." and let her words reverberate in your every mental crevice. Letyour feelings stir as hers until you see with love's eyes.That is thedefinition of poetry.

This book is damn good.
This book is blood, sweat and tears. It is the sweet succulence of love. Her poetry is bitter and rich. ... Read more

Product Description
Twenty black and Puerto Rican children write their poetic impressions of growing up in the ghettos of America. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

She can hug your mother and rip the smirk off of a liar's face
William Parker. Bassist, Composer, Song Poet, Peace Warrior, Spirit Warrior, Rhythm Junkie, World-Class Appreciator of those who have come before, and those of the now. William is one of my favorite musicians of all time. It is through him and his great willingness to point towards those who have fanned his fires that I came to find June Jordan for myself. His "Poem for June Jordan" on the great albums, Corn Meal Dance and Sound Unity are what brought her name to my attention. I could never thank William enough for all the things he's given to me. Now along with Mayor of Punkville, The All-Star Game, Palm of Soul, Alphaville Suite and Raining on the Moon, the work of June Jordan is one of the major things.

I checked this out from the library just thinking hey I've never heard of her so I'll give her a shot. I was hoping for the best but if I didn't like it, no harm done. Directed By Desire was on my Christmas List before my first day with it had ended. I stressed it. If I get it, it'll be the big gift. If I don't get it, it'll be what I buy the day after Christmas. As it stands now, I just pour over the library copy everyday. It's way too clean. Way too untouched. She has hit me like a hurricane. Based on the power of what is inside, this library copy should be tear-stained, dirty, battered and bruised.

I don't get all the poems inside. As a writer she was beyond me. As a human I'm sure she was beyond me. The ones I don't yet get... the ones I may never fully get... they don't hurt the book. The way Who Look At Me, The End of Kindness, Kissing God Goodbye, Poem Because the 1996 Poet Laureate..., First Poem After Serious Surgery, etc... get to me... man. June was amazing. Alot of what's inside this book has me wiping tears from my eyes and saying again and again, "How is she not everywhere? How is it possible to go through school without a teacher, an older student, someone's parents telling me "hey kid, you might dig this June Jordan woman!"? I'm disappointed in myself for not finding her earlier. I want her to be in your life.

So much of this is so personal. I don't mean personal in the oft heard "It's like she/he is saying what I wish I could say" sort of way. I mean there are poems where she's sitting 2 feet away from me, looking me right in the eyes and laying it all out in front of me with love. Or she's calling me out when I'm full of it. Some of you have been reading June's work since before I was born. I'll not pretend I know her the way you know her but for me, this book is huge. Even for you I'd say it's essential. It says the "Last Poems" were previously unpublished. I love many of those so for me, it'd be worth it even if I already owned everything else.

This woman was a Goddess among us. It's a shame she had to live in our ugly world, but she didn't run from any of it.

(2/9/08 edit - I got it for Christmas! It's even better when it's at your fingertips whenever you want it.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A beautiful exploration of the inherent poetry of language
How this brilliant piece of literature was ever out of print escapes all logic. His Own Where is categorized as Young Adult fiction, but its artistic merits demand the attention of readers of all ages. The combination of Black English and June Jordan's poetic narrative makes for a beautiful and intriguing read, as well as an efficient and fascinating way of capturing the emotions and actions of young love. In addition to Jordan's outstanding use of language, the plot and characters hold one's attention and offer a social commentary that is still relevant thirty-nine years after the book's initial publication. Sapphire's introduction celebrates and brings attention to Jordan's impressive manipulation of language, building expectations that Jordan never fails to meet.

crackle.
June Jordan's His Own Where is more marginalia than novel, more talisman than story. it brings to mind the crackle of a record; the sonic traces indelibly left when experiences score themselves upon our memory. charting the adolescent love story between Buddy and Angela, its purity of sentiment is admirable and reminds us of the value of human relationships, in the face of multifaceted and institutional opposition. despite this deep awareness of the complexity of social structure, Jordan's writing retains a clarity of vision that locates her text precisely at the intersection of the political and the poetic. feel it as it moves over your body, a little off kilter - spark as it reaches particular lyric moments. it hits hard, and you can't quite see it coming.

think dialect, the vernacular and colloquial speech patterns as laid upon a page - Jordan's book becomes accessible to younger readers while performing essential transvaluations within the hierarchy of language (of the written above the oral). ultimately, Jordan's book transcends the limits of how and what can be said from a variety of minority positions. His Own Where promises to reach diverse audiences - a valuable read for all.

At The Intersection of Poeticism and Colloquialism
As easily accessible as it is burgeoning with poetic sparsity, His Own Where demands appreciation from each and every individual who has ever attempted to punctuate romance, liberation, and recovery. June Jordan's revolutionary use of Black English enables her narrative to revel in the carnal, the visceral, and the colloquial, without losing any of its sophistication. Jordan does more than just mirror the grammar and syntax of her surroundings; by emphasizing the manner in which delivery affects and is affected by language, Jordan effectively reconstructs the reading experience. I would recommend this piece especially to teens and young adults struggling with issues of independence and insubordination. Just as Jordan's characters transgress the boundaries they are expected to uphold, Jordan herself fractures the conventions and expectations of the English language. An introduction by Sapphire sets the stage for this emotively powerful,philosophically rebellious, politically empowering piece of literary subversion.

fantastic new edition
It's wonderful to see a new edition of this in print. Jordan's fiction is often overshadowed by her brilliant poetry and essays, but this book shouldn't be neglected--it's a great starting point for someone who hasn't dipped much into Jordan's body of work, and just because it's a novel doesn't mean it's any less poetic or political than her other writings. This beautiful book is given a valuable introduction by Sapphire, who focuses on the deceptively simple language Jordan uses. Worth reading for June Jordan fans, Sapphire fans, and people who haven't read either of them before--absolutely essential for anyone wanting to give just representation to modern black women writers in his or her library. ... Read more

Product Description
Her vision and politics have set her at the forefront of contemporary poetry and her work has a far-reaching impact on all poets and readers of poetry today. A dedicated and inspired teacher, her innovative and highly successful poetry program, Poetry for the People, has recently emerged as a national phenomenon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Poetry for the People
This book is an outline for how to recreate the late June Jordan's revolutionary poetry class at UC Berkeley.From how to organize, to how to pick a curriculum and run a workshop, to how to kick off a reading and publish a class chapbook, this volume recreates the process that will allow you to teach poetry to a broad cross-section of the population.And not just at a university, either: the book describes how this same process, with minor amendments, was used in public schools and in an area church.I can imagine this same blueprint being used to teach poetry in a community center, a long-term care home, or a prison with similar good effect.

And even if you're not inclined to teach, there is a great deal of information in this book that will help you learn how to write.Jordan inserts her guidelines for revision, self-critique, self-publicity, and other skills a working poet will need.Whether you want to work with others or alone, this book will open your eyes to the ways poets improve their art.

There is even a healthy selection of poetry that poets and teachers of poetry should take a look at.Categorized according to racial, social, sexual, and other lines, it will allow you to build a library that represents a cross-section of verse as it is written in America today.The list is a little out of date, having been written in 1995, but if you have access to a good library, or even time to look around Amazon.com, you should be able to bring the selection up to date for your own writing.

The book isn't without problems.In the reading selection, the "White Male" section seems to stop with the death of Robert Frost, as though no white men have written poetry, or none worth mentioning, for the last 45 years.Some of the poetry from the class is very confessional, sometimes at the expense of quality, so there are poems which seem less like poetry amd more like airing dirty laundry in public.And the social outlook of the book is very urban-centered, as though if you don't live in a world surrounded by urban sprawl and drenched in media, you can't write or perform poetry.

But on balance, even a rural white male poet with nothing to confess will have a great deal to gain from this book.From how to edit yourself to how to organize with other poets to how to publish and publicize, there is a great deal you'll be able to take away and apply to your own poetry and your own community.A must-have for all poets who aspire to work in a serious and committed manner, and for poetry teachers who want to do more than just copy-edit their students' work.

A Fitting Memorial to a Truly Great Woman
I stumbled on this book when I was looking for new resources for good poems to read for Black History Month.Flipping through it, I found it instantly engaging, so I had no problem buying it on the spot.

It went on the stack of 'next time you're looking for something interesting to read' and had to wait for me to finish a few books of poetry, as well as Ted Kooser's Poetry Home Repair Manual.I felt some sort of irrational loyalty to the new Poet Laureate.But Kooser is good; very good.He made me think through everything that I write -- carefully, critically -- and my spirit was quickly wilting.I needed an antidote; or, more precisely, a complement, a little yin to counterbalance the substantial yang of Kooser's superb book.June Jordan was the very thing.

Reading it is a joy.Thinking through how to teach people to write poetry that speaks to the truth of their world, their experience, and how to bring it to the public -- all the grub with the glory, so to speak -- with June Jordan and her students was pure pleasure.And I couldn't argue with the results -- which are generously sprinkled throughout the book, with an extra dollop at the end.Poetry, the craft and how to sell it.

I have to mention that one thing that initially attracted me to Poetry for the People was the memory that Jordan had recently died (in 2002, I believe).I'm in the habit of reading a book by an author when they die as a sort of memorial, an extended meditation on their contribution and general mutability, if you will.We lost a great one when we lost June Jordan; but she was responsible enough to leave a substantial legacy, so the net loss is negligible.It's ours because she wanted it to be.

A good read
Even if you don't teach poetry writing, you will love this book if you're a writer of politically conscious poetry or if you care about how good poetry gets written. With the popularity of Slam poetry these days, this is a very useful primer. It includes poems from different cultural backgrounds about a range of racial, social, and gender issues. It also provides lists of suggested readings that go beyond the narrow range of poetry books found in mainstream bookstores.

A tribute to the power of poetry and to democratic teaching
Lauren Muller, editor, gently persuades a talented crew from June Jordan's Poetry for the People classes at UC Berkely, to tell the rest of us how they do it--run poetry workshops and readings that literally transformtheir participants and audiences. The book provides college andcommunityteachers with an accessible plan for poetry workshops, includingsyllabii, bibliographies, thoughtful meditations on the teaching andwritingof poetry, and a rich sampling of poems. It's a tribute not only tothe power of the word but also to the solid principle that teaching, likepopular theater, is one of the democratic art forms that can revolutionizethe way we think and how we live in community.

Puts "the people" back into poetry
This book, based on the experience of students and poets involved with June Jordan's popular UCal/Berkeley poetry courses, is a handbook for people who want to put poetry in the mouths and pens of "ThePeople," everybody -- whether in the university or in a communitysetting such as a coffeehouse or church. The "white male" poetryof the "canon" is here put in its rightful place as but one ofthe several American poetry traditions, which also include AfricanAmerican, Caribbean, Native American, Asian American, Chicano/a, gay andlesbian, women's, and Irish American poetry, for which beginningbibliographies are supplied, as is a sample syllabus and an anthology ofstudent poetry. ... Read more

Product Description

June Jordan was born on July 9, 1936, in Harlem, New York, to Mildred and Granville Jordan, Jamaican natives. During her life, she became one of the most prolific, important, and influential African American writers of her time. Before her death from breast cancer in 2002, Jordan published more than 27 books, including Some of Us Did Not Die, Solider: A Poet's Childhood, Poetry for the People: Finding a Voice through Verse, Haruko Love Poems, and Naming Our Destiny. Her work Civil Wars, a collection of letters and essays, addressed such topics as violence, homosexuality, race, and black feminism. Working in many genres and touching on many themes and issues, Jordan was a powerful force in American literature. This biography reveals the woman, the writer, the poet, the activist, the leader, and the educator in all her complexity.

Working in many genres and touching on many themes and issues, June Jordan was a powerful force in American literature. This biography reveals the woman, the writer, the speaker, the poet, the activist, the leader, and the educator in all her complexity.

June Jordan was born on July 9, 1936, in Harlem, New York, to Mildred and Granville Jordan, Jamaican natives. During her life, she became one of the most prolific, important, and influential African American writers of her time. Before her death from breast cancer in 2002, Jordan published more than 27 books, including Some of Us Did Not Die, Solider: A Poet's Childhood, Poetry for the People: Finding a Voice through Verse, Haruko Love Poems, and Naming Our Destiny. Her work Civil Wars, a collection of letters and essays, addressed such topics as violence, homosexuality, race, and black feminism.

Kinloch offers a life and letters of this prolific writer, delving into both her biography and her contributions as a writer and activist. This approach unveils the power of language in Jordan's poems, essays, speeches, books—and ultimately in her own life—as she challenged political systems of injustice, racism, and sexism. Kinloch examines questions surrounding the pain of writing, the anger of oppression, and the struggle of African American women to assert their voices. Attention is paid to the ways in which Jordan's life informed her writings her perspectives, and her contributions to the global landscape of class, race, and gender issues. The writer's major works are explored in detail, as Kinloch weaves discussions of her life into critical considerations of her writings. Ultimately, this portrait illustrates the ways in which Jordan's career represented her dedication to making words work; her ability to rally and revolutionize the spirit of people invested in decolonization, love, and freedom; and her responsiveness to the world in which she lived.

Customer Reviews (1)

Review: June Jordan's Poetry as Political, Educational
June Jordan was a strong woman and political leader, acting in many ways, including as a poet, writer, activist, and educator.The beliefs she held strongly guided her actions in her life, especially concerning education and civil rights.Her poetry was a way of expressing her beliefs, but also her politics, leadership, personality, and activism.Jordan used simple words to convey bold meaning, each poem a "political act," like Valerie Kinloch wrote in Jordan's biography.Reading her poetry in class, I could feel the weight of the importance of the political message Jordan communicates through her poetry.Each word was read with passion, and each was necessary.The repetition of the phrases and words in Jordan's poetry illustrates Jordan's commitment to her work and her political message.It is phrases like, "too bad there is no oil between her legs" that will stay with me, as her political message and poetry will stay with me.

Jordan's educational reform efforts were also political acts, as her poetry was.I think it is interesting that she used poetry as the center of her educational reform.Like her political message in her poetry, poetry in general was so important for her.She wanted to bring poetry to underprivileged students in public schools.By forming poetry groups and encouraging students to express themselves this way, Jordan is helping them communicate their own experiences and beliefs, creating their own "political acts."I think it is inspiring the way she uses an art form to create change in a community.

Valerie Kinloch's portrayal of June Jordan is personal, although she had never met her.I actually got to speak with Kinloch on a conference call in my class, and she described the way she researched and what she thought of Jordan as an activist and reformer.Both Jordan and Kinloch are fascinating people, so I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be touched by the story of a life that ended too soon, but impacted the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the worst books I've read so far this year.
June Jordan, Living Room (Thunder's Mouth, 1985)

Note to self: never mix up Judy Jordan, author of the fantastic Carolina Ghost Woods, and June Jordan, author of the execrable Living Room, again. I detested this book so much I cut the other June Jordan books I had on my to-be-read list and substituted this for the Jordan title I had on my goal list for the year.I can't stand the idea of reading another June Jordan book.

As with most books of poetry that I end up detesting as much as I did this one, it's simply not poetry. It's political screed chopped up into little lines to make it look more artistic. That doesn't make it any more poetry than putting it in the fiction section would make it fiction. Its true home is on the editorial page of the local newspaper.

"helicopters grating nutmeg trees
rifles shiny on the shellshocked sand
the beautiful laundry of the bombs falling into fresh air
artillery and tanks up against a halfnaked girl
and her boyfriend"
("Another Poem About the Man")

Yeah, yeah. Another would-be poet with a point to get across who forgets that the medium is far more important than the message. One hundred thirty-four pages of this hammer smacking into my head over and over again is enough to make me swear off for life. (zero)

... Read more

Product Description
In Civil Wars, June Jordan's battleground is the intersection of private and public reality, which she explores through a blending of personal reflection and political analysis. From journal entries on the line between poetry and politics and a discussion of language and power in "White" versus "Black" English to First Amendment issues, children's rights, Black studies, American violence, and sexuality, Jordan documents the very personal ways in which she meshes with the social issues of modern-day life in this country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A personal look at social issues
In Civil Wars, poet and activist June Jordan explores political issues through a very personal lens.This collection of essays, speeches, and letters, previously published but presented in this text with contextualizing annotations, masterfully blends public and private spheres.Jordan looks at critical issues such as race, homosexuality, linguistic differences, and violence by drawing on events in her own life and telling her intersecting story through vibrant prose.For instance, Jordan examines the power differential between "White" and "Black" English by discussing her novel His Own Where in relation to Shakespeare and questioning the linguistic hierarchy that values particular codes over other alternatives.Civil Wars is an engaging, moving text that will make you think deeply about social justice through a personal perspective.A must read!

'Observations from the Front Lines of America'
June Jordan's collection of essays spans almost twenty years of her life, from her days as a young mother "learning to see" the world around her and beginning to make her own actions seen and voice heard, through her growing involvement in Civil Rights demonstrations, the beginnings of her teaching career, and later on in her life as a Black woman still fighting for justice using her weapon of choice: words.

This book explores Jordan's perspective on and experience with a variety of topics, including race riots, urban housing, educational language policy, children's rights, university Black Studies programs, African liberation, land reform, and the politics of publishing.Her combination of social political commentary and personal reflection is thought-provoking and accessible to a diverse audience of readers.Her writing is clear and passionate, and most pieces, previously published, are prefaced by background information that places them historically.

This is a book to be savored both for what it says and how it says it. ... Read more

Product Description
From her activism to her passionate writings, June Jordan (1936 - 2002) is one of the most revered American poets of our time. Jordan's writing simultaneously provokes delight and energy while urging reflection on American society and its injustices. In Still Seeking an Attitude the first reflection on her legacy, Jordan's life and works are explored in depth and detail, focusing on subjects ranging from her use of language and linguistics to her political activism and role in children's literature. ... Read more

Product Description
A brief biography of one of the first black organizers of voter registration in Mississippi. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It is a crime that this book is out of print!
I really can't believe that so much of June Jordan's work is out of print! Especially considering the new popularity of poetry. This collection of her poems from the late fifties to mid seventies is so vibrant and alive withbeauty and power.I just recently discovered June Jordan's work and Irecognise the treasure.This is amazing stuff! ... Read more

Product Description

Black poets from the early twentieth century and onward come together for a moving anthology, edited and organized by the late, revered poet June Jordan.

First published in 1970, soulscript is a poignant, panoramic collection of poetry from some of the most eloquent voices in the art. Selected for their literary excellence and by the dictates of Jordan’s heart, these works tell the story of both collective and personal experiences, in Jordan’s words, “in tears, in rage, in hope, in sonnet, in blank/free verse, in overwhelming rhetorical scream.”
Soulscript features works by Jordan and other luminaries like Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Gayl Jines, James Weldon Johnson, Audre Lorde, Claude McKay, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, and Richard Wright, as well as the fresh voices of a turbulent era’s younger writers. Celebrated spoken-word poet Staceyann Chin, an original cast member of Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, has also added an introduction that speaks to Jordan’s legacy, helping to further cement soulscript as a visionary compilation that has already become a modern classic.

Product Description
Combining her talents and mixed elements of drama, poetry, and song, award-winning African-American poet, essayist, and political activist June Jordan tells a timeless love story, set in South Central L.A. ... Read more

Product Description
In a collection of essays, the poet, essayist, activist, and teacher discusses growing up in Brooklyn, the myths of race and class, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Jackson, the poverty of American education, and other topics. Reprint. 10,000 first printing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautiful
Her first essay "Waking up in the middle of some American dreams" is amazing. I cried reading her essays.

Mediocre book from progressive black woman writer
This is a collection of political essays from a black female poet and scholar.I mean, this book is okay; it's just not excellent.It's decent cultural criticism, but there are many academics and journalists who have written better.This book is most often cited for its essay "A New Politics of Sexuality", but that essay isn't revolutionary in the slightest.The book is filled with hokey essays about politics and acting too.You can find better books out there than this one. ... Read more