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Haruko: Love Poems
"Haruko/Love Poems", 1993, June Jordan] WHAT IS THIS thing called love, in the poems of June Jordan, artist, teacher, social critic, visionary of human solidarity? First of all, it's a motive; the power Che Guevara was trying to invoke in his much-quoted assertion: "At the risk of appearing ridiculous . . . the true revolutionary is moved by great feelings of love." I think also of Paul Nizan: "You think you are innocent if you say, 'I love this woman and I want to act in accordance with my love,' but you are beginning the revolution. . . . You will be driven back: to claim the right to a human act is to attack the forces responsible for all the misery in the world." Neither of them, admittedly, was claiming the love of a woman for women, the love of a man for men, as revolutionary, as a human act.
But the motive is "directed by desire" in Jordan.
But the motive is "directed by desire" in Jordan
But the motive is "directed by desire" in Jordan.
But the motive is "directed by desire" in Jordan
140 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1993
About the author
June Jordan
73 books390 followersJune Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was a Caribbean-American poet and activist.
Jordan received numerous honors and awards, including a 1969-70 Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a Yaddo Fellowship in 1979, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1982, and the Achievement Award for International Reporting from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1984. Jordan also won the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award from 1995 to 1998 as well as the Ground Breakers-Dream Makers Award from The Woman's Foundation in 1994.
She was included in Who's Who in America from 1984 until her death. She received the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship from UC Berkeley and the PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award (1991).
(from Wikipedia)
Jordan received numerous honors and awards, including a 1969-70 Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a Yaddo Fellowship in 1979, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1982, and the Achievement Award for International Reporting from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1984. Jordan also won the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award from 1995 to 1998 as well as the Ground Breakers-Dream Makers Award from The Woman's Foundation in 1994.
She was included in Who's Who in America from 1984 until her death. She received the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship from UC Berkeley and the PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award (1991).
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
December 9, 2022
What a sloppy, disjointed and cryptic collection of poetry. Reading this made me feel like I was standing behind a couple, arguing in harsh whispers, in a grocery store line. Like. . . their issues, not mine, can't get away fast enough.
Typically I wouldn't even review something this underwhelming, but I waited quite a while for a copy of her poetry, since much of it has gone out-of-print, and I had already committed to scratching out status updates of the best that I could find, among the hot mess that is here.
Every once in a while, I'd hit a two-line or three-line gem, but, all in all, not too many winners here. As my maternal grandmother used to say, “I couldn't win for losing.”
If you'd like to read something inspiring by Ms. Jordan, may I please recommend her short novel, HIS OWN WHERE?
I'll end this on a positive note with the one poem in the collection that I liked in its entirety:
Poem About Process and Progress
Hey Baby you betta
hurry it up!
Because
since you went totally
off
I seen a full moon
I seen a half moon
I seen a quarter moon
I seen no moon whatsoever!
I seen a equinox
I seen a solstice
I seen Mars and Venus on a line
I seen a mess a fickle stars
and lately
I seen this new kind a luva
on an' off the telephone
who like to talk to me
all the time
real nice
Typically I wouldn't even review something this underwhelming, but I waited quite a while for a copy of her poetry, since much of it has gone out-of-print, and I had already committed to scratching out status updates of the best that I could find, among the hot mess that is here.
Every once in a while, I'd hit a two-line or three-line gem, but, all in all, not too many winners here. As my maternal grandmother used to say, “I couldn't win for losing.”
If you'd like to read something inspiring by Ms. Jordan, may I please recommend her short novel, HIS OWN WHERE?
I'll end this on a positive note with the one poem in the collection that I liked in its entirety:
Poem About Process and Progress
Hey Baby you betta
hurry it up!
Because
since you went totally
off
I seen a full moon
I seen a half moon
I seen a quarter moon
I seen no moon whatsoever!
I seen a equinox
I seen a solstice
I seen Mars and Venus on a line
I seen a mess a fickle stars
and lately
I seen this new kind a luva
on an' off the telephone
who like to talk to me
all the time
real nice
December 26, 2019
“it’s not that I gave away my keys. / The problem is nobody wants to steal me or my / house.” / “maybe I just need to love myself myself and / anyway / I’m working on it”
February 16, 2024
Poetry is not, admittedly, a go-to genre of mine. It was painful enough in school for me, but occasionally there would be a poem that would really speak to me, so I can't write off the genre completely. Plus, I love the way poets play with language. Well, good poets anyway.
"In my opinion," Irenosen Okojie writes in their introduction to this collection of poems, "June Jordan is the greatest poet that ever lived. That she is not more widely recognized in the canon is because she was Black, female and bisexual." And, yeah, I have post-secondary literature degrees and I'd never heard of her until this collection of poems landed in my library's digital collection. And, after reading Haruko/Love Poems, I'm closer to siding with Okojie than not. (I'm not willing to declare anyone the greatest poet because, well, I haven't read nearly enough. But what I did read was on par or better than the canonical poets I'd read in school.)
Jordan writes unapologetically about her bisexuality, her blackness, her love, and her resistance to a world that stigmatizes her and people like her. Her poetry is powerful, evocative, brave. And I feel so lucky that I stumbled upon her work.
Some favourite poems form this collection (this is more for my future reference than yours):
* "12:01 A.M.":
- Then how should I / subsist / without the benediction of / our bodies / intertwined / or why?
- I am my soul adrift / the whole night sky denies / me light / without you
* "Poem for Haruko"
- How easily you held / my hand / beside the low tide / of the world
* Untitled: Why I became a pacifist / and then / How I became a warrior / again
* "Update":
- Still I am learning / unconditional and true / Still I am burning / unconditional for you
* "Resolution # 1,003
- I will feel nothing for / everyone oblivious to me
"In my opinion," Irenosen Okojie writes in their introduction to this collection of poems, "June Jordan is the greatest poet that ever lived. That she is not more widely recognized in the canon is because she was Black, female and bisexual." And, yeah, I have post-secondary literature degrees and I'd never heard of her until this collection of poems landed in my library's digital collection. And, after reading Haruko/Love Poems, I'm closer to siding with Okojie than not. (I'm not willing to declare anyone the greatest poet because, well, I haven't read nearly enough. But what I did read was on par or better than the canonical poets I'd read in school.)
Jordan writes unapologetically about her bisexuality, her blackness, her love, and her resistance to a world that stigmatizes her and people like her. Her poetry is powerful, evocative, brave. And I feel so lucky that I stumbled upon her work.
Some favourite poems form this collection (this is more for my future reference than yours):
* "12:01 A.M.":
- Then how should I / subsist / without the benediction of / our bodies / intertwined / or why?
- I am my soul adrift / the whole night sky denies / me light / without you
* "Poem for Haruko"
- How easily you held / my hand / beside the low tide / of the world
* Untitled: Why I became a pacifist / and then / How I became a warrior / again
* "Update":
- Still I am learning / unconditional and true / Still I am burning / unconditional for you
* "Resolution # 1,003
- I will feel nothing for / everyone oblivious to me
October 4, 2021
oh, you just get the sense that june jordan truly understood love, welcomed it, deferred to it no matter how frustrating it can get at times. and wow, how well she used language to show it! personally preferred the first part with the simple haruko poems, but the second half with its more personal & lyrical poems was also breathtaking. the one piece i can't stop thinking about is "resolution #1,003".
June 8, 2023
this was so beautiful it made me so emotional
( loved poem about heartbreak that go on and on in particular )
( loved poem about heartbreak that go on and on in particular )
Read
August 19, 2023i've enjoyed I MUST BECOME A MENACE TO MY ENEMIES for a hot minute & the way she writes skin has always been lovely but this was my first! real extended time with her.
very here for it. absolutely. I feel there's a slower start with HArUKo before we get to the more assured persona of the love poems section. But it's subtle. my FAVOURITE compliment / devotion is the line nothing about you / reminds me of money.
The long Pompeii poem ('Roman Poem Number Five') is just incredible & while it's recognised I think it deserves more immediate name rec as one of the best long poems written in the last century . But she's so full, all along, so giving. She's one that can set you off so easy to work your own way too... I just rly like how this panned out
very here for it. absolutely. I feel there's a slower start with HArUKo before we get to the more assured persona of the love poems section. But it's subtle. my FAVOURITE compliment / devotion is the line nothing about you / reminds me of money.
The long Pompeii poem ('Roman Poem Number Five') is just incredible & while it's recognised I think it deserves more immediate name rec as one of the best long poems written in the last century . But she's so full, all along, so giving. She's one that can set you off so easy to work your own way too... I just rly like how this panned out
August 14, 2023
For the longest time I felt that I couldn’t meet love poems where they were at. The first one I read was probably Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare which set the tone for most of the love poems I later read which, to me, had the same sickly idealistic texture. Love poems struck me as deeply hyperbolic, derivative, and unhuman; It also didn’t help that I was deeply sceptical of love. Now my perspective of love and love poems are a bit more permissive, though I still cannot stand the “I cannot breathe when you’re not near” variety. Few poets, I feel, are successful in revealing love as a human activity.
Haruko/Love Poems lyrically weaves together themes of love, heartbreak, resistance, coalition, and identity. Bringing together these themes of love and coalition was not new for me especially in the canon of Black female poets, however what feels different about Jordan’s work is how subtly she mixes the two. Indeed, one of the most significant motifs in the collection is network-related imagery: tissues, cells, roots, intersections, fireworks etc.
(Last Stanza from ‘Bit City Happening/for Haruko’)
‘Tracks’, ‘ganglia’ and ‘nervous’ are all furcate imagery, creating this notion of occasional togetherness and departure that I feel characterise both love and coalition and create a more realistic (or shall I say familiar) image of love to me which is one characterised by moments, distance, departures, and reunions. In the entire collection she shows this state of being torn, I think, most memorably in the poem 'Free Flight', which is one of my favourites in the collection, but also through the motif of the telephone.
Her poetry is lyrical, often songlike, and uses intense and affective natural imagery to further drive home notions of connectedness and of being brought home. She weaves in and out of vernacular, of meter, and is playful with form to a degree I haven’t quite experienced with other poets. The natural imagery tends to be transient, but all together an odd mix between calming and passionate probably best captured in her ‘Fire’ poems.
It’s a mixed bag. I thought the Haruko section was more tightly constructed than the ‘Love Poems’ collection which for me had more variation in quality, but I fell in love with the personality of the poems. I would need to re-read to give a more in depth review, but I will close with one of my favourite poems which I think captures the personality of the collection which is admittedly a bit more stubborn than might be a few readers taste in a love collection, but rubbed me the right way.
POEM ABOUT PROCESS AND PROGRESS
for Haruko
Hey Baby you betta
hurry it up!
Because
since you went totally
off
I seen a full moon
I seen a half moon
I seen a quarter moon
I seen no moon whatsoever!
I seen a equinox
I seen a solstice
I seen Mars and Venus on a line
I seen a mess a fickle stars
and lately
I seen this new kind a luva
on an' off the telephone
who like to talk to me
all the time
real nice
Haruko/Love Poems lyrically weaves together themes of love, heartbreak, resistance, coalition, and identity. Bringing together these themes of love and coalition was not new for me especially in the canon of Black female poets, however what feels different about Jordan’s work is how subtly she mixes the two. Indeed, one of the most significant motifs in the collection is network-related imagery: tissues, cells, roots, intersections, fireworks etc.
I ride these tracks to meet you:
moving through/an upright register
of shadow and of light
moving through
eclectic ganglia of open cities/nervous
nowhere immaculate nowhere a mystery
to match this urban earthquake travelling
stop by stop
into reunion with the highway wonder
of your eyes
(Last Stanza from ‘Bit City Happening/for Haruko’)
‘Tracks’, ‘ganglia’ and ‘nervous’ are all furcate imagery, creating this notion of occasional togetherness and departure that I feel characterise both love and coalition and create a more realistic (or shall I say familiar) image of love to me which is one characterised by moments, distance, departures, and reunions. In the entire collection she shows this state of being torn, I think, most memorably in the poem 'Free Flight', which is one of my favourites in the collection, but also through the motif of the telephone.
Her poetry is lyrical, often songlike, and uses intense and affective natural imagery to further drive home notions of connectedness and of being brought home. She weaves in and out of vernacular, of meter, and is playful with form to a degree I haven’t quite experienced with other poets. The natural imagery tends to be transient, but all together an odd mix between calming and passionate probably best captured in her ‘Fire’ poems.
It’s a mixed bag. I thought the Haruko section was more tightly constructed than the ‘Love Poems’ collection which for me had more variation in quality, but I fell in love with the personality of the poems. I would need to re-read to give a more in depth review, but I will close with one of my favourite poems which I think captures the personality of the collection which is admittedly a bit more stubborn than might be a few readers taste in a love collection, but rubbed me the right way.
POEM ABOUT PROCESS AND PROGRESS
for Haruko
Hey Baby you betta
hurry it up!
Because
since you went totally
off
I seen a full moon
I seen a half moon
I seen a quarter moon
I seen no moon whatsoever!
I seen a equinox
I seen a solstice
I seen Mars and Venus on a line
I seen a mess a fickle stars
and lately
I seen this new kind a luva
on an' off the telephone
who like to talk to me
all the time
real nice
March 2, 2020
this left me utterly breathless
March 22, 2024
jordan discusses life, femininity, queerness and the black experience with such passion and conviction - the anthology is full of the unapologetic, the brash, and jordan manages to immerse the reader in her unique lens of the world more often than not.
her skill is made most distinct in HOW she conveys her reality through such varying forms, at first shorter haruko poems, then longer, lyrical/narrative pieces. love discussed through jordan’s bisexuality was overall the most riveting aspect for me; fiery and gritty and real, you felt as though she was unburdening herself to you specifically. such strong emotion was consistently conveyed throughout. indisputably, all works were ‘love poems’ in the most innate sense of the title.
her skill is made most distinct in HOW she conveys her reality through such varying forms, at first shorter haruko poems, then longer, lyrical/narrative pieces. love discussed through jordan’s bisexuality was overall the most riveting aspect for me; fiery and gritty and real, you felt as though she was unburdening herself to you specifically. such strong emotion was consistently conveyed throughout. indisputably, all works were ‘love poems’ in the most innate sense of the title.
April 24, 2023
Hit or miss, but many more misses for me. Very lyrical and fiery but often I found it too scattered and inward to find enough to find a hold on. Too fragmentary, brash and stubborn for my liking of love poems. It just didn't resonate with me.
Read
April 3, 2024«Rushing like white
waters rapid toward precipitous
and killer rocks
the blood of time alone
escapes control and leaking
useless
dries and quantifies
the liquid loss of impulse
purified by any of your fingertips
that touch my face»
AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
waters rapid toward precipitous
and killer rocks
the blood of time alone
escapes control and leaking
useless
dries and quantifies
the liquid loss of impulse
purified by any of your fingertips
that touch my face»
AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
January 16, 2023
Two days to forget yourself
July 25, 2024
I especially loved the roman poems!
March 28, 2008
Consider that 3 star rating to be 3 1/2 stars. (2 stars for the first section, 4 for the second)
I wasn't too impressed with the first section, the "Haruko" poems although there were a few that I liked.
The second section, though... The Selected Love Poems 1970 - 1991 were fantastic. Such a wonderful combination of the intensely personal with the raging political. I have not read a poet as good at consistently combining a true love poem with the horrible stories of the world. There is a fire here -- an anger, a passion, a *fierce* love. Not every poem holds to that raw power, but most of them do.
I, however, did not like the long poem (Roman Poem Number Five) that ended the book. I felt that it actually took away from the second section. Long poems are hard to sustain and I felt personally that this one ranged across the map a little too much to get its point across.
I wasn't too impressed with the first section, the "Haruko" poems although there were a few that I liked.
The second section, though... The Selected Love Poems 1970 - 1991 were fantastic. Such a wonderful combination of the intensely personal with the raging political. I have not read a poet as good at consistently combining a true love poem with the horrible stories of the world. There is a fire here -- an anger, a passion, a *fierce* love. Not every poem holds to that raw power, but most of them do.
I, however, did not like the long poem (Roman Poem Number Five) that ended the book. I felt that it actually took away from the second section. Long poems are hard to sustain and I felt personally that this one ranged across the map a little too much to get its point across.
May 26, 2020
Poetry for heart-heavy nights. June Jordan is an ambulance for the accidents of love.
February 14, 2022
love is real
June 13, 2023
“I would not long for heaven or for earth more than I’d wish to stay there touched and touching you”
This collection was such a good balance. Political resistance, self reflection, love and heartbreak (her relationships w/ men and women) and so on. Obviously not every piece will be 5/5 but I will say my favorite was the final poem that focused on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. I’ve read June Jordan’s essays before but not her poetry so it was nice to see a different aspect of her work
This collection was such a good balance. Political resistance, self reflection, love and heartbreak (her relationships w/ men and women) and so on. Obviously not every piece will be 5/5 but I will say my favorite was the final poem that focused on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. I’ve read June Jordan’s essays before but not her poetry so it was nice to see a different aspect of her work
January 15, 2024
I the 2023 edition of June Jordan’s book first published in the UK in 1993 by Virago. Except for the introduction by Irenosen Okojie which was written for this 2023 edition, the book is a reissue.
It was really a high to read June Jordan again. I have loved her work since I first encountered it when I was younger. A woman passionate about life and wanting to “be a menace to my enemies” at the same time.
My first time reading this book, I now vow to get the physical book. I am sorry I got a digital copy. I try to read poetry in book form. I will read it again.
I have so much to say about this book. I so appreciate her openness about her love for women as well as her bisexuality. Her passion ranges from the specific person to people throughout the ages. And her anger and her self-love and nature and travel are also subjects.
From “Sunflower Sonnets Number One”
But if I tell you how my
heart swings wide
Enough to motivate
flirtations with the
trees
Or from “I Must Become a Menace to my Enemies”
I plan to blossom bloody
on an afternoon
surrounded by my
comrades singing
terrible revenge in
merciless
accelerating
rhythms
A beautiful and wondrous book of poetry!
It was really a high to read June Jordan again. I have loved her work since I first encountered it when I was younger. A woman passionate about life and wanting to “be a menace to my enemies” at the same time.
My first time reading this book, I now vow to get the physical book. I am sorry I got a digital copy. I try to read poetry in book form. I will read it again.
I have so much to say about this book. I so appreciate her openness about her love for women as well as her bisexuality. Her passion ranges from the specific person to people throughout the ages. And her anger and her self-love and nature and travel are also subjects.
From “Sunflower Sonnets Number One”
But if I tell you how my
heart swings wide
Enough to motivate
flirtations with the
trees
Or from “I Must Become a Menace to my Enemies”
I plan to blossom bloody
on an afternoon
surrounded by my
comrades singing
terrible revenge in
merciless
accelerating
rhythms
A beautiful and wondrous book of poetry!
Shelved as 'read-ebooks'
January 6, 2024“I knew whoever the hell ‘my people’ are I knew that one of them is you”
I liked a few lines, and a few poems, but overall I didn’t love this collection. The poems felt very scattered and didn’t make me emotional in the way I want poetry to make me feel.
I liked a few lines, and a few poems, but overall I didn’t love this collection. The poems felt very scattered and didn’t make me emotional in the way I want poetry to make me feel.
Read
January 3, 2021"Maybe when I wake up in the middle of the night
I should go downstairs
dump the refrigerator contents on the floor
and stand there in the middle of the spilled milk
and the wasted butter spread beneath my dirty feet
writing poems
writing poems
maybe I just need to love myself myself and
anyway
I’m working on it."
I should go downstairs
dump the refrigerator contents on the floor
and stand there in the middle of the spilled milk
and the wasted butter spread beneath my dirty feet
writing poems
writing poems
maybe I just need to love myself myself and
anyway
I’m working on it."
December 23, 2022
Binge-reading poetry seems like an ineffective way of consuming it, but it's the only way I know how.
December 31, 2022
a gem of a human.
some favorites from this collection:
"resolution #1,003"
"on a new year's eve"
"on your love"
"from flight"
"the morning on the mountains"
"i must become a menace to my enemies"
some favorites from this collection:
"resolution #1,003"
"on a new year's eve"
"on your love"
"from flight"
"the morning on the mountains"
"i must become a menace to my enemies"
February 6, 2023
Old poems just arent for me.
December 19, 2023
These poems made me really sad and emotional. Very beautiful.
May 9, 2024
i procrastinated more than usual with this piece and i fully defend that the mere reason for this is that this book is half masterpiece and half… well… nothing
January 19, 2021
21:00
maybe I just need to love myself myself and anyway
I’m working on it
im a dummy and didnt really keep track of my favourite poems so i dont have a list of all of them, but some of my faves, in no particular order, are: free flight, roman poem number thirteen for eddie, inaugural rose, poem for joy dedicated to the creek tribe of north americ, letter to haruko from decorah, the morning on the mountains, evidently looking at the moon requires a clean place to stand, roman poem number five.
And my wanting to say wanting to show and tell bells/ okay because I’m shy
but I
will not lie
to you
maybe I just need to love myself myself and anyway
I’m working on it
im a dummy and didnt really keep track of my favourite poems so i dont have a list of all of them, but some of my faves, in no particular order, are: free flight, roman poem number thirteen for eddie, inaugural rose, poem for joy dedicated to the creek tribe of north americ, letter to haruko from decorah, the morning on the mountains, evidently looking at the moon requires a clean place to stand, roman poem number five.
And my wanting to say wanting to show and tell bells/ okay because I’m shy
but I
will not lie
to you
August 13, 2024
Does June Jordan even need my praise... gorgeous gorgeous all the way through... most understandably 'love poem' titled love poems I've read in a while, here's a favorite:
“Roman Poem Number Ten
Quarter past midnight and the sea
the dark blue music
does not belong to me
an elephant desire
heavy speeding whisper phantom
elephantom atmosphere
the heart rip hurts me
like the let go at the cliff
fell down shallow
loose and cold
let go
let go”
“Roman Poem Number Ten
Quarter past midnight and the sea
the dark blue music
does not belong to me
an elephant desire
heavy speeding whisper phantom
elephantom atmosphere
the heart rip hurts me
like the let go at the cliff
fell down shallow
loose and cold
let go
let go”
August 30, 2023
These poems they are things that I do in the dark reaching for you
"a lover gazes into the rejection she is suffering and refuses it, refuses personal humiliation, uses the lens of her anger, eroticism, and wit to scrutinize self-hatred, illumine self-respect, and recruit a mutual dignity from the failures of mutual desire"
"a lover gazes into the rejection she is suffering and refuses it, refuses personal humiliation, uses the lens of her anger, eroticism, and wit to scrutinize self-hatred, illumine self-respect, and recruit a mutual dignity from the failures of mutual desire"
May 27, 2010
I just read this at the Langston Hughes Community Center here in Queens. I went to the poetry section in the stacks and picked out the first book that caught my eye. This was one of the most beautiful and honest collection of poems I've ever read.
July 1, 2015
I loved her poems to haruko (the fist part) and the rest of the book was also incredible. These poems are the definition of "love poems" -- wrought with emotion, love, loss, pain, jealousy, anger, lust... all the emotions one feels when dealing with love. It's beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews