“Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan”

Cover of Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan, via Bookshop.

“Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan” is a thoughtful collection of the finest work from Jordan's ten volumes of poetry, as well as dozens of "last poems" that were previously never released.

Buy “Directed by Desire” on Bookshop ($22) >

Read poems and prose by June Jordan online (free) >

About June Jordan

June Jordan was a Jamaican American, bisexual poet, essayist, teacher, and activist. Throughout her lifetime, she published over 27 volumes of works that span decades and genres. Born in Brooklyn to West Indian immigrant parents, she began writing at a young age and never stopped. Her work gave voice to the civil rights, feminist, antiwar and gay and lesbian rights movements.

Her work is deeply autobiographical and unabashedly shares her sentiments as a bisexual Black woman on civil rights, women’s rights, and sexual freedom. In poetry and essays, plays, and fictional works, Jordan wrote not just to bring language to what is – but breathe life into the radical, liberated future she envisioned. Throughout her work, she used Black vernacular, which is often discredited as “unprofessional” and “improper,” particularly in literature. This intentional effort emphasized its importance to Black culture and taught others to treat it with the respect it deserves.

There are three qualities of Black English— the presence of life, voice, and clarity—that intensify to a distinctive Black value system that we became excited about and self-consciously tried to maintain.

June Jordan

Another recurring part of Jordan’s work is love. In her speech “Where Is The Love?” delivered at Howard University, she emphasizes that Black women must be centered in liberatory work, creating a blueprint for Black feminist theory (read the essay in full here). One of her children’s books, “His Own Where,” is a fictional tale of two teenagers in Brooklyn that fall in love despite the challenges they face (Bookshop). Her poem “Poem for My Love” honors the tenderness of love that may feel impossible.

Poem for My Love

BY JUNE JORDAN


How do we come to be here next to each other

in the night

Where are the stars that show us to our love

inevitable

Outside the leaves flame usual in darkness

and the rain

falls cool and blessed on the holy flesh

the black men waiting on the corner for

a womanly mirage

I am amazed by peace

It is this possibility of you

asleep

and breathing in the quiet air


Reposted from Poetry Foundation: Reprinted from Directed by Desire: the Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005), edited by Jan Heller Levi and Sara Miles. Used by permission of Copper Canyon Press, coppercanyonpress.org. Source: Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005)

Beyond her writing, Jordan taught at several universities. She also founded the “Poetry for the People” program in 1991 at Berkeley University, which aimed to inspire students to use poetry “as a means of artistic expression.” She received several distinguished awards and titles throughout her life and died of breast cancer in 2002.

“
Always to be as honest as possible and to be as careful about the trust invested in you as you possibly can. Then the task of a poet of color, a black poet, as a people hated and despised, is to rally the spirit of your folks…I have to get myself together and figure out an angle, a perspective, that is an offering, that other folks can use to pick themselves up, to rally and to continue or, even better, to jump higher, to reach more extensively in solidarity with even more varieties of people to accomplish something. I feel that it’s a spirit task.

June Jordan

Reflection Questions

• Who are the current writers that help to illustrate the world we live in today?
• How does loving your own unique identity support loving others?
• How can you practice loving the differences between each of us?

Learn More

• Learn about the history and legacy of Black poetry (Anti-Racism Daily)
• Watch June Jordan read “Poem for a Young Poet", recorded in 2001 (YouTube)