June Jordan Poems

I have been enjoying the law and order of our
community throughout the past three months since
...

A few years back and they told me Black
means a hole where other folks
got brain/it was like the cells in the heads
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Redwood grove and war
You and me talking Congo
gender grief and ash '
...

1

I turn to my Rand McNally Atlas.
Europe appears right after the Map of the World.
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At the throat of Soweto
a devil language falls
slashing
claw syllables to shred and leave
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Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousands
by the tens of thousands pound the fallow land
into new dust that
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I didn’t know and nobody told me and what
could I do or say, anyway?
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At least it helps me to think about my son
a Leo/born to us
(Aries and Cancer) some
sixteen years ago
...

The enemies proliferate
by air
by land
they bomb the cities
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You used to say, “June?
Honey when you come down here you
supposed to stay with me. Where
else?”
...