Haruko/Love Poems (High Risk Books) (Paperback)

by June Jordan (Author) "Here comes the dragon!..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This latest offering by Jordan ( Naming Our Destiny ) begins with a series of poems written in 1991 and 1992 to Haruko, her female lover. What strikes one here is the absolute fragility of love, the premonitions of future loss that invade the speaker's present. "Then how should I / subsist / without the benediction of our bodies / intertwined / or why?" she asks. Never answered, the question will be posed again and again with slight variations as if, in the act of writing, one finds continuance. Moving on to love poems culled from four previous volumes, the reader senses Jordan's full range. Not only is heterosexual love given its due, but one poem seems to capture the transitional moment when the speaker wavers between her love for men and the newfound possibility of loving women. Jordan's writing is sensual and hard-edged at the same time, insisting that passion exists among commonplace objects. By beginning a poem with "but," Jordan makes one feel as if one has entered a room mid-conversation and is immediately included and welcome. Her throbbing, relentless rhythm is so effective that readers find themselves mouthing the words. It's impossible to sit silently back.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
When a major poet brings forth an entire book consisting of love poems, it is a true cause for celebration. Jordan, one of the most important poets writing today, gives us a richly magnificent collection of poems that describes her love experiences as an African American woman. She writes of the joys, obsessions, attachments, yearnings, sharings, disappointments, and rage attendant upon loving relationships; the reader feels her own love connections and their related emotions rekindled. The volume begins with a warmly passionate but frequently angry series of poems written in the early 1990s to "Haruko." Jordan's romantic lyricism is captivating, but as love is met with rejection, the language turns livid, rigid: "an ending to my love/ for you/ will stretch its scaly/ full length into light." The final half of the book consists of love poems selected from the last 20 years of Jordan's career by Adrienne Rich (who has graced the volume with a sensitive foreword) and Sara Miles. Many of these poems have appeared in previous volumes of Jordan's poetry (most recently Living Room, Thunder's Mouth, 1985). "Thanks," she concludes, "to every lover for the everlasting mystery." Highly recommended.
- Judy Clarence, California State Univ. Lib., Hayward
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852423234
• ISBN-13: 978-1852423230
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,295,383 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Heartbeat of a Lover's Soul, March 4, 2000

By	"kulturvultur" (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

June Jordan's poetry beats furiously in the name of love: for Haruko, for life, for real. Since the human language is inadequate to truly express this emotion, Jordan manipulates and bends the written word to fit the human heart. When she describes love as "yes directed by desire" ("When I or Else"), she speaks the living truth.

Read "Free Flight", "Roman Poem Number Five" and "12:01 A.M." and let her words reverberate in your every mental crevice. Let your feelings stir as hers until you see with love's eyes. That is the definition of poetry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars broth for the modern soul, March 22, 2001

By	"joystjohn" (Huntsville, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This is simply a swell collections of poems. Some are sweet, others painful. All are provoking.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is damn good., October 11, 1999

By A Customer

This book is blood, sweat and tears. It is the sweet succulence of love. Her poetry is bitter and rich.