Edited by Christoph Keller & Jan Heller Levi. Alice James Books (paperback, 2017)
Culled from over twenty-five works of poetry, fiction, criticism, and collaboration, June Jordan’s pieces that appear in this reader showcase Jordan's ability to use language to punch holes in the fabric of political oppression, holes through which we just might be able to breathe.
—Gabrielle Bates
***
"These Poems"
These poems
they are things that I do
in the dark
reaching for you
whoever you are
and
are you ready?
These words
they are stones in the water
running away
These skeletal lines
they are desperate arms for my longing and love.
I am a stranger
learning to worship the strangers
around me
whoever you are
whoever I may become.