Things That I Do'

 

“Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth.” –  June Jordan

Born on this date in 1936, Jordan was the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who became one of this nation's most acclaimed Black writers.  She received dozens of writing honors, among them a Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowship, and an Achievement Award for International Reporting.

 

Known as "the Poet of the People,” she founded the "Poetry for the People" program at UC-Berkeley in 1991, it’s aim to inspire and empower students to use poetry as a means of artistic expression. 

 

For Saturday’s Poem, here is Jordan’s,

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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